Locked With the Damned
by Eriza Atlantis
Summary: Ten years after the Harmon's died and became locked in the house. Tate is finally over Violet, and the last thing he needed was interesting girl Wynter Summers moving into the Murder House. A year ago Wynter became attached to all things supernatural. But when she and her distant family move into the Murder House, will the inhabitance be too much even for her to handle? COMPLETE
1. House of the Damned

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter One: House of the Damned**_

I wasn't with my parents when they bought the new house, but if I had of been I wouldn't have stopped them. I wouldn't have made them change their mind. I wouldn't have pitched a fit to find a different house. There were spirits in this house, a lot of spirits. More than a dozen I assume. Being a young girl you would think that I would be afraid of dead people in my house, but it was just the opposite. Ever since a year ago, the paranormal doesn't scare me. Only because I had no choice but to learn to live with it.

I was standing in front of our new house now. It was large, two, maybe three stories. A large porch and a lot of windows. It looked like it had a fresh layer of purple paint on it. I wondered what color it was before the repaint.

"A fresh start, isn't that what you wanted, Wynter?" My sister asked, stepping up beside me with her arms delicately folded over her flat chest and her long freshly manicured nails practically puncturing holes in her skin. Her long bottle bleach blonde hair was pulled up in a high, tight pony tail and her long bangs hung freely on the left side of her face. Her stance was stiff beside me. I sighed, waiting for her to go on. I guess she got the picture because then she said, "Well you got what you wanted. You always get what you want. Ugh. I can't believe you made me move all the way out to LA." She muttered and then glided her long, flawless body up the stairs to the new house, but not before informing the moving guys to be extra careful with her make-up boxes. Yes, I said boxes.

"I don't always get what I want." I mumbled once she was inside the house. Normally I wouldn't let her get away with being a bitch to me, but ever since last year, I owed her everything. She's made it a point to remind me every time I try to yell at her for something, too. It gets annoying, but there's nothing I can do about it. Or rather, there's nothing that I _will _do about it.

Autumn and I were the complete opposites of each other, much like the season's autumn and winter. Autumn was a social butterfly. Popular, played almost every sport, wore the latest styles of clothes, was never seen without make-up, and had a million friends. I don't think she's even been home on a weekend or been home before eleven at night, even on a school night. I, on the other hand, was a complete wall flower. I always did my homework, barely talked in class except to my friends, didn't play any sports, and rarely had plans on the weekend. Even back at home with my best friend, I didn't matter much to anyone. I was artsy, always painting something or someone, or writing, or playing piano. I was, and am, the complete opposite of my younger sister (yeah, that's right, I said younger; younger by three years; she's thirteen) and my parents were always so proud of her.

I watched my mom talking to the real-estate agent as I made my way towards the porch. I didn't know the ladies name, but just from her fidgety demeanor I didn't like her. "And where is Mr. Summers?" She asked, looking around for my dad like a little lost puppy. I walked past the two women and into my new home. My dad was at his new job; well, sorting out his new job. Back home my dad was a surgeon for the ER. He would be called into work mostly at night, and when he wasn't working he was at home sleeping. My mom was a lawyer and made it a point to stay at work as long as she possibly could before coming home; until one or two a.m. My parents never spent time with one another, or us, not even when they were off for holiday vacation. Though holidays never felt happy and cheerful with my family.

I walked up the large staircase in the front of the house, taking in the new scenery. The house was incredibly beautiful. But it held a mystery. Something deep, dark, and possibly deadly. All the more reason for me to love it here.

I walked to the end of the hallway and into the last room on the right. My new room. The movers had already stuffed everything into my spacey room, but placed the piano in the middle. That thing wasn't going to be easy to move out of the way. Jeez. I wish my dad paid them enough to unpack everything for me; with all the stuff I had I was going to be unpacking and getting things in order for the next few days. I shut the door behind me and locked it. The last thing I needed was for my sister to be bugging me to unpack her room, too. I owed her, but I wasn't going to unpack her shit. I wasn't her maid.

I grabbed the first box I saw and began un-boxing my paint supplies. I stopped and realized that I needed to first get the desk in order before pulling everything out. I grabbed the medium sized black desk that had been placed in the back right corner of the room and pulled it back against the right wall. There. Now I could unload everything. I put all my paints and brushes in the drawers and made it a point to not look at the picture that I left in the middle drawer. I slammed the drawer shut and turned around to see a tall boy with dirty blonde hair and dark eyes standing behind me. I stepped back, almost tripping over some boxes, and tried to make since of things. And then I realize… "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Just…came to say hi." He said, moving some dirty blonde hair out of his face and flashing me an innocent smile.

"Well hi." I said, walking past him and grabbing another art box. This one was filled with pictures, photographs, and music. Plus some tacks I was going to use to hang some of the pictures up on my new bedroom walls. He stayed quiet, watching me as I unpacked and placed things in separate piles. "So…you're dead." I said nonchalantly. I heard him suck in a breath and then exhale. I smirked at myself. _'Gottcha.' _I thought in victory. I grabbed some nature photographs and some tacks and began placing them in abstract forms on my wall above my art desk. He stayed silent and I could tell that I had completely threw his off guard.

"What makes you say that?" He finally asked. He moved beside me and looked at the new pictures I had placed on my wall. I put the last picture on the wall and smiled over at him.

"There is no light around you." I said. The look in his eyes after I said that dimmed a little and his face turned pale. I turned away from him and went to another box; this one had a bunch of jewelry in it. Of course I was in a hurry when I packed, so I didn't separate anything and now everything was strung and tangled together. I turned back to him. "There is darkness. Only darkness." I whispered. He turned away from me and walked to the other side of the room.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I…don't exactly know." He looked like he was about to say something but a knock came at my door. "What?" I sighed. The boy hid behind my large book case in the corner of my room and waited.

"Can I come in?" It was my mother's voice.

"Of course. It is your house after all." I retorted. I unlocked the door and stepped back as she walked in with an elderly woman behind her. The funny thing about this old woman was that she kept switching from young to old every minute, and she was surrounded by darkness too. This woman standing beside my mother was dead.

"Wynter, this is Moira. She's the house maid." My mom said with lack of emotion and interest.

"Hello, dear." The old-young woman said. She was blind in her right eye and her graying red hair was pulled up. When she transformed though, the age seemed to melt off of her, and she was a beautiful young woman with vibrant red hair, long legs, a slim figure, and a pointed face. Her outfit also changed; what was once an ugly old, long maid dress was now a short, barely covering her up _shirt_. Like one of those 'sexy' maid outfits girls wear on Halloween.

"Hi." I said pointedly, crossing my arms over my chest. She seemed nice, when she was old.

"Wynter, where's Autumn?" My mom asked, not looking up from her iPhone.

"I don't know." I answered. She scoffed and shook her head and then turned to leave. Moira stayed in the room for a few seconds, staring at me. She knew I knew that she was dead. My mom called for her from the hallway and then she quickly turned to leave, shutting the door back behind her. I locked it before my mother had the chance to bother me some more. When I turned back around I bumped into the boy again. I 'umpfed' and back away from him again. "You gotta stop doing that." I mumbled and side stepped past him and grabbed the box of jewelry again. I went over to the mattress that had yet to be set up on my bed stands and dumped the box out, probably making all the tangling worse. "So what's your name?"

"Tate. What's yours?" Maybe he didn't hear my mom call me by my name.

"Wynter."

"What's your last name?"

"What does it matter?" I asked, looking up from the jumbled mess of necklaces on my bed and swished my purple bangs out of my face.

"Just curious." He shrugged.

"Summers." I answered, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Isn't that ironic?" He laughed.

I smirked and dropped my arms. "My sister's name is Autumn." I looked back down and started pulling apart the necklaces again. Stud earrings were crammed in there as little surprises to stick in my finger.

"Your parents must be hippies." He sat down beside me on the mattress and picked through the jewelry.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Are you kidding me? My parents are far from easy going hippies; my dad is a surgeon and my mom is a lawyer. Did you not see my mom when she walked in here? All she cares about is her iPhone."

"Interesting…" He trailed off, getting up and inspecting my art desk.

"How many of you are there?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, not looking at me as he continued to shuffle through my paint and brush drawers.

"When we got here I could sense that there were more of you…more ghosts."

"What, are you a medium or something?"

I laughed and shook my head. "No, just a messed up kid."

"There are a lot of us here." He reached into the drawer in the middle of my desk and pulled out the canvas that was in there. It was my most recent painting. My heart began to race. No one's seen that painting, and now a complete stranger (a ghost!) was marveling at it. "Some won't show themselves to you, though. Well, maybe just to scare you and your family. That would be funny, actually."

I did laugh at the thought of some of them scaring the shit out of my sister and parents. Maybe it would scare them straight. Yeah, probably not. "But why you then? Why are you showing yourself to me?" I got off my mattress and walked over to him. I tried to take the canvas away from him but he held it above my head so that I couldn't reach.

"Because you seem…very interesting." He mumbled, looking up at the painting still above my head; it was a flower scene, the colors dark and fading to light, the flowers messy and crumbled looking, like they were in a storm, a storm nobody would want to be caught in.

"Thanks." I muttered with lack of interest. All I wanted was my painting back. I jumped up to get it but he held it higher. He smirked and I blew out a pout in frustration.

"I didn't mean it as an insult." His smirk faded and he handed the dark canvas back to me.

"I didn't take it as one." I said, putting the painting back in the middle drawer and slamming it shut. I had a feeling that I was going to need a lock for it. "So, Ghost Tate," I turned back to him with a bright smile on my face. It appeared that my sudden mood swing startled and confused him. "Since you're here, wanna help me unpack?"

He cocked his head to the side and looked at me like I was some new form of life. "It really doesn't bother you that I'm dead?"

"Should it?" I asked.

"Yes." He answered simply.

"Do you want it to?"

"No."

"Then stop asking and help me. Or not. I don't care. Just don't stand in my way. Unless I can walk through you." I said, putting my hands on my hips. He looked pretty solid.

"Try." He smirked.

"Why?" I asked skeptically.

"Try." He repeated with a nod and then held his arms out. "Go ahead and try to walk through me."

I sighed, figuring that we weren't going to get anywhere unless I attempted to walk through him. So I closed my eyes and walked into him, expecting to go straight through him, but didn't and smacked into his hard chest. I could feel myself blush from embarrassment. I stepped back from him and rubbed my head to ease the redness in my face away.

"Not everything you know about the supernatural is true, Wynter. That was a test. And you failed." He said amused. The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine, and I didn't know why.

"Enlighten me." I whispered faintly. His dark eyes bored into my light ones and for some reason I felt like giving him a hug, but I didn't. Instead I bent down and handed him a box with some books in it. "Help me." I mumbled, not breaking eye contact with him.

"I don't know if I can."

**-X-**

"Freak, mom wants you." Autumn's voice sounded from outside my door. Tate and I looked up from my bed where we were trying to put the stand together. She banged on my door and twisted the knob to try to get in. Now, I knew she wasn't that stupid to think that she could get into a room that was locked, unless she had a key. And she didn't have a key. I growled and got up. I unlocked my door and in barged my superficial sister along with a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was taller than her, but looked around her age.

"Who is that?" I asked, nodding my head towards the boy who was now standing beside her.

"Michael Langdon, our new neighbor. Who's that?" She motioned towards Tate.

"Tate." He answered for himself.

"What do you want, Autumn?" I sighed.

"Mom wants you for something. Probably to take the trash out." She waved at me and then pulled Michael with her out of the room. There was a hidden meaning behind 'taking the trash out'; my sister thinks of me as trash ever since what happened.

"I'll go see what she wants. You can come too, if you want." I turned to him but he shook his head. He looked a little freaked out, but I didn't ask why. "Suit yourself." I muttered and then quickly walked down the stairs. I could hear the annoying laughter of my mother and another woman coming from the kitchen. I lingered in the doorway to listen for a minute.

"Oh I know! Children are such a handful. Especially my oldest, Wynter. She's the reason we moved here." I walked into the kitchen before she could say anymore. "Oh, Wynter!" She didn't look surprised that I heard her say what she did. "Wynter, I didn't see you there." Liar, but whatever. "Come here and meet our neighbor. Constance, this is my sixteen year old, Wynter." She pulled me in front of an older woman with obvious dyed blonde hair.

"Constance Langdon, dear." She held her hand out to me and I shook it once and then let go.

"Langdon, Michael's mom?" I asked.

He face lit up, but it wasn't in delight. "Oh, you've already met Michael?" She asked. I nodded. Then she changed the subject rather quickly. "Wynter, such a pretty name. Such a pretty season."

"Thanks…" I trailed off. I felt more than uncomfortable standing here; talking to a stranger that was rather, well, strange.

"Seems as though my son and your daughter have taken a liking to each other rather quickly, Dani." Constance said, sipping on whatever my mom had poured in her mug.

"Yes they have. Oh, the reason I called you down here, Wynter, is to let you know that when your father and I are at work, Constance is going to be checking up on you. Your sister, I suspect, won't be home much either, and I don't want you to be all alone in this house during the day and possibly the night. Moira won't be much company because she'll be cleaning."

"Thanks mom, but what's the point in getting this huge house if no one's going to be here to enjoy it?" I asked. She glared at me and then put her hands on my shoulders and led me out of the kitchen.

"Don't you ever embarrass me like that in front of new people again." She hissed, leading me to the stairs. I rolled my eyes at her. "I'm leaving soon and I won't be home tonight. Your father already told me that he won't be home tonight, either. And your sister has met some girls down the street that she's spending the night with tonight. I'll leave some money for pizza on the kitchen counter. You'll be alright, right?" Even though she acted like she hated me sometimes, I couldn't say that she didn't care. It felt like it, but that's just because of what happened last year. I don't know when my parents will look at me normally again…

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm always fine." I answered.

"One of these days you won't be fine." She said sadly. We grew quiet and the silence made us both uncomfortable because she then turned away from me and walked back into the kitchen. I held myself as I walked back up the stairs slowly. I caught Moira coming out of my sister room with some empty boxes. Autumn was probably making her unpack everything while she hung out with her new friends. Moira smiled meekly at me and flashed from an old woman to a young woman as she walked by me. I smiled faintly at her and then entered my room. I shut and locked the door behind me. Tate was sitting on my now assembled bed, looking through my camera. "Nice pictures. What did your mom want?" He asked, not looking up from the digital device.

"Thanks and just to tell me that I was going to be home alone tonight." I shrugged, dropping my arms and beginning to hang up my clothes.

"Oh, but you won't be alone." I turned to see his mischievous smirk and something inside of me screamed. I wondered exactly what I had gotten myself into by moving here. And soon, I was certain, I would find out. And the outcome, whether I liked it or not, was going to change my life forever.

* * *

**A/N: Hi there people. So over the weekend I decided to watch American Horror Story. The first season made me fall in love. Not only with the plot, but with the ever sexy, ever misunderstood Tate Langdon. ;) I was more than pleased to find out that he's also a main character in the second season. Maybe when I'm done with this fanfic I'll post one to go along with the second season. **

**Anywho, this is a Tate X OC fanfic.  
**

**Summary: ****_Ten years after the Harmon's died and became locked in the house, Tate is finally over Violet, and the last thing he needed was interesting girl Wynter Summers moving into the Murder House. A year ago Wynter became attached to all things supernatural. But when she and her distant family move into the Murder House, will the inhabitance be too much even for her to handle? _**  


******So review and let me know what you think! I'll have the next chapter up in a few days or so.  
**


	2. The Screaming Monster

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Two: The Screaming Monster**_

I awoke that night to the sound of a baby crying. I groaned and turned over to look at my digital clock. The green letters read three-thirty-seven in the morning. I groaned again and pulled the pillow over my head to try to block out the horrendous noise. The crying grew louder and louder and the pillow wasn't blocking it out at all. It just wouldn't stop. "God damn it." I sighed angrily and threw the pillow across my room and the covers off of the bed. I stomped over to my bedroom door and swung it open and came face to face with darkness. The crying stopped and then suddenly a woman was standing in front of me, looking at me with the intent to kill. "Jesus _fuck_!" I hissed under my breath and stepped back from the threshold of my door.

"Awh, I was hoping that you would run down the stairs and out the front door. Or maybe pass out. Or something interesting." The red head in front of me pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. I shrugged and slammed the door in her face. I was about to walk back to my bed and crawl in it, but the baby started crying again. I sighed deeply and then opened my door again. The red head barged into the room, this time followed by a guy with black hair and bushy eyebrows. He was actually quite attractive. "Don't treat me like dirt!" She yelped and pushed me back. I fell on a pile of empty boxes and restrained myself from screaming at her.

"Excuse her, she's a royal bitch." The man said.

"Says the queen of bitches." She retorted.

"Oh you're just mad because I'm the only dick in this house you can't get." He aged her on.

"You're missing out, girly-boy." She stuck her tongue out at him and I laughed. "What's so funny?" She asked, her eyes bulging out of her head by the sight of me. I rolled my eyes at her and shoved my hands in my sweat pants pockets as I got up and cracked my neck. They were making my head hurt.

"I appreciate the warm welcome, but can I get back to sleep now?" I pleated, rubbing my temples, hoping that it would make my head stop hurting.

"No, we have to talk to you." The young Moira appeared in front of me, skimpy maid outfit and all.

"Can't it wait till morning? Like, later morning?" I whined.

"No!" The young long red head shouted.

"If you keep yelling at me I'm not going to listen to what you have to say!" I shouted back in her face. Moira and Chad backed up along with the young girl. "Thank you. Now it would help if I knew your names." I pointed at the man and the young woman.

"Hayden and Chad." Moira answered for them.

I nodded. "Alright, Hayden and Chad. What the hell is so important that you've woke me up at four in the morning for?" I sat down on my blue beanie-bag and folded my hands in my lap. In a really stupid way, I felt like the God Father.

"You knew Tate was a ghost the moment you looked at him." Hayden said, her voice rising.

"So?"

"How did you know?" Moira asked.

"Because…there's darkness around him. Like there's darkness around the three of you." I was falling asleep while still trying to pay attention.

"Wake up!" Hayden wailed and then her hand collided with my face. A loud clap echoed in the room and my eyes shot open. Anger began to bubble inside me. My natural instinct was to punch her in the face, and before I knew what I was doing, I did just that. My fist met the right side of her face and she flung back into Chad, who was looking at me like I was a super human or something. Moira sucked in a breath and it looked like she was trying to not laugh.

"So how about you don't scream in my face anymore, 'kay sweetie?" I said through a clenched jaw.

"I could kill you, you know?" She hissed at me, throwing Chad's arms off of her and giving me a very evil smirk.

"If you kill her she won't be able to help us, Hayden." Chad said, grabbing the girl by the hair and pulling her back beside him.

"Anyway, now that the abuse is over." Moira said. "What do you mean there's darkness around us?" She asked, bending down in front of me. She was so beautiful. I wondered how she died.

I shook my head to keep the sleep away for a bit longer. "Like, people, living people, they have a white glow around them. You guys, all the ghosts in this house, all the ghosts in the world, have darkness around them." I explained tiredly. Chad, Hayden and Moira exchanged glances at one another and then all looked at me. "What?" I sighed, rolling my head around my shoulders. I was two seconds from falling asleep. I just wanted to make love to my bed right now. Damn ghosts.

"You have been in the face of Death." Moira stated.

I half smiled and exerted a laugh. "Yeah, something like that…" I trailed off, looking away and not bothering to look back up at them.

"What does that mean, Moira?" Hayden asked.

"It means that she can tell the living form the dead, and that means that she can help us." Moira explained.

I looked up at her with a confused expression. "How am I supposed to help you?"

"You can get us out of this damned house!" Chad shouted with more excitement than I would have liked.

"But we're locked here, Chad, how is this _kid _supposed to help us?" Hayden asked, straining the word 'kid'. I wondered if she was this annoying when she was alive. Probably so.

"This _kid _knows more than you'll ever dream to know about the supernatural and its secrets, Hayden." Moira barked. Hayden backed away to Chad again and turned away from the maid.

"I still don't understand how I'm supposed to help you…" I said, getting up and stretching. My back popped in several places and I just wished that they would leave me alone.

"You may not know it now, but you will soon. The answers will come to you. Just please, look for answers. Look for a way to help us. You're the only one who can get us out of here." The maid said.

"But why me?" I asked.

"You know why." She looked at me and then disappeared. Chad and Hayden looked at me and then disappeared right behind her. I never thought that seeing spirits would get me into this much shit. How was I supposed to help them get free of this house? They were damned here, trapped here forever. I may be able to see them, but that didn't mean that I could help them.

"You got yourself into this whether you intended to or not." A woman with black curly hair said.

"And you can't leave until you free us." A man said.

They disappeared after that and I was once again alone in my room. Well, alone being that I couldn't see them anymore if they were here. I turned and face planted on to the beanie-bag and just laid there. I didn't have the strength to make it those few steps back to my bed.

I wasn't a witch. I wasn't a medium. I wasn't a psychic. I was just a girl who could see and communicate with the dead. There was nothing special about me, so I didn't know why they were so dead-set that I could help them get free from this place. Moira said that the answers would come to me, but honestly I had no idea.

**-X-**

"Wake up." I opened my crusty eyes to see Tate bent down, looming over me. I groaned and sat up on my knees on the beanie-bag and rubbed my hurting eyes. I stood up, making whining sounds and stretched like a cat. "Did you sleep like that all night?" He asked, sitting down on my bed as I still tried to comprehend what was going on around me.

"No I slept in my bed until that annoying ghost Hayden woke me up, and then Chad and Moira wanted to have a conversation with me. I was too tired and lazy to make it back to my bed so I just passed out here. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on, but whatever." I shrugged and then walked over to my closet and began looking over what I was going to wear today.

"What'd they want?"

"They seemed to have this idea in their head that just because I can see them and knew that they were dead that I can free them from this house and help everyone move on to another place." I turned to see his expression and was greeted with a dark stare. I decided to change the subject before I found something out that I really didn't want to know. "So what time is it?"

"Nine in the morning." He said brightly. Wow. Mood swing much. His were worse than mine.

My face dropped and I threw the clothes that I had picked out back in the closet and stomped over to my bed. Without thinking (completely forgetting was more like it) I fell on top of him. It escaped my mind that he wasn't transparent. My face, I'm sure, was beat red. I rolled off of him and hid my face in my pillow. "S-sorry." I muttered.

"Why are you going back to sleep?" He asked, not bothering to bring up what just happened, and I mentally thanked him for that.

"I went to bed at twelve, was woken up at three-thirty, didn't get back to bed until four-something, and here you come waking me up at nine in the morning. I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep. Wake my back up at twelve." I sighed, pulling the covers over my body and snuggling into my pillow.

"Okay." He said, and then jumped under the covers as well.

My eyes grew wide and my face, I'm sure, was beat red again. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sleeping with you." He said simply.

"Do ghosts sleep?"

"No."

"Then why…"

"I'll just wait for you to wake up."

"Okay…" I trailed off and then shut my eyes. "Just don't watch me sleep." I think I fell asleep before he could answer. I just really hoped that he didn't watch me while I slept. Because that would be extremely creepy.

As expected, and sort of not wanted, Tate woke me up at twelve o'clock sharp. I groaned in resistance to his nudging and pulled the blankets all the way over my head. When he wouldn't stop poking me I rolled over to face him and smiled lazily. "Do I really have to get up?" I asked, blinking the sleep from my eyes.

"Are you just going to waste the day away? I thought Moira and the others wanted you to figure out how to free them?" He asked, scooting down in the bed so that he was level with me. His eyes were a deep, dark chocolate brown. The longer I stared into them the more I felt myself losing grip from reality. I shook my head and looked past him.

"I'm sorry, what?" I cleared my head of all thoughts of his gorgeous eyes and tried to focus.

"Weren't you going to work on a way to free Moira and the others from the house?" He repeated.

"Oh…yeah. Tate, do you really think I'll be able to find a way to free everyone?"

He shrugged. "I don't know…"

"Do you want to be free?"

"I don't…know…" He trailed off, looking away from me like he was lost in thought.

"Well what do you want?" I hadn't realized that I moved closer to him. His body was like a magnet to mine. I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know why it was happening. I felt like the closer and the more time I spent with the boy the more I would be sucked into this other world. A world that I shouldn't be a part of. But who was stopping me?

"I want you," He poked my nose. "To get up and get ready."

"Get ready for what?"

"For a surprise."

"What kind of surprise?" I actually hated surprises but with the way he was being so secretive about it I was actually interested to know what it was.

"You'll never know if you don't get up and get ready." He smiled at me and then pushed me out of the bed.

"You know, you could have just, asked me nicely to get up." I mumbled from the floor.

"But what fun would that be?" He asked, leaning over the bed and still smiling at me. "Hurry up and get ready. I'll be waiting." He got up and walked out of my room. I sighed and threw the blankets that had fallen with me back on my bed and got up. I stretched and then walked over to my closet and picked up the clothes on the bottom of my floor and proceeded out of my bedroom to the bathroom. Walking out into the hallway, I ran into Moira. Old Moira this time.

"Oh, good morning Wynter, did you sleep well?" She asked.

"Yeah, after I was finally left alone." I said and then quickly went into the bathroom and shut the door before she could bring up what she wanted me to do. Fresh towels were on the bathroom sink and I quickly stripped from my pajamas and jumped into hot water. I started to feel uncomfortable, like I was being watched (hell, I probably was), so instead of embracing the scolding hot water for much longer, I got out and quickly dried off and pulled on my dark blue jeans and black t-shirt with neon pink and green paint splatters on it. After I was dressed I brushed my teeth and pulled up my wet dark brown hair.

I opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the cool hallway feeling refreshed. Tate was waiting by my bedroom door patiently. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Well that depends, am I dressed for the occasion?" I asked, holding my arms out and twirling around.

"You look fine." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hallway towards the stairs. Once we were at the front door he stopped and handed me a blind fold. "Here, put this on."

"Why?" I raised my eyebrows and took the black material.

"Just trust me. I want it to be a surprise." He took the cloth from me and tied it around my eyes. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall." He said and then grabbed my hand and led me out the door.

* * *

**A/N: Happy Halloween my lovely readers. ^_^ Please review and let me know what you think!**


	3. Bittersweet Sundown

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Three: Bittersweet Sundown**_

"Ow, Jesus, I thought you said you wouldn't let me fall!" I mumbled as I tripped yet again on some twigs and briers. Tate's hand tightened around mine and he steadied me so that I could begin walking again.

"I haven't let you fall once. Just trip here and there." He said.

"Here and there? I've been tripping the whole way. Tate, where the hell are we going, and when the hell are we going to get there?" I asked, pulling at the blind fold with my free hand. Tate came to a sudden halt, which made me bump into his back. "Warn me next time." I sighed.

"Don't take the blindfold off." He said sternly and yanked at the ends of the cloth to make it tighter. If he pulled at it even more I was sure my head was going to pop. "We're almost there. Just hold on." He began pulling me again, only smaller steps this time. I only tripped twice before he stopped again. "Okay, don't walk forward or you'll fall and break something." He warned. I nodded and waited for him to untie the material around my eyes. Tate let go of my hand and then I was able to see again. I had to squint for my eyes to readjust to the light I had been deprived of for thirty or so minutes. Once I realized what I was looking at I gasped; Tate had brought me to a clearing. We were on top of a large hill overlooking a lake towards the bottom. The sky was clear and there were flowers sprouting in random families around the green grass. The best part, and the part I was confused about, was that my easel, canvas, and paints were set up in the middle of the clearing. Waiting for me.

"How...did you get my stuff out here so fast? Or did I just take a longer shower than I thought..." I trailed off and walked over to where my art things were set up. "What exactly did you want me to paint?" I turned to him to see his arms crossed over his chest and very pleased smile on his face.

"I was looking through your paintings last night-"

"You were in my room last night?" I interrupted him, which turned his pleased expression to a bit agitated.

"Well yeah..."

"Going through my stuff?"

"Just your paintings." He dropped his arms and joined me by the easel, looking out at the lake. "Anyway, I saw that you liked painting nature and things like that. So I thought you'd like to paint a California sunset." He flashed me a smile and I could feel myself blushing slightly.

"That's really nice of you...but Tate it's," I pulled my phone out and looked at the time. "It's only two in the afternoon. We have like...four or five hours until the sun sets."

He shrugged. "We can just hang out here until then."

"And do what?"

"Talk." He sat down in the grass and I sat down beside him. The tall green grass felt like a blanket it was so soft. I was still tired; the longer I sat on the grass the more I wanted to go back to sleep.

"Talk about what?" I asked, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Tell me about yourself." He said, leaning back and looking up at the sky.

"How about we play the question game. You ask me a question and I ask you a question." I suggested.

"Alright." He sat up and turned to face me. "I'll go first. How old are you?"

"Sixteen. How old are you?" I crossed my legs and put my hands in my lap. I anticipated that this was going to take a few hours. But at least we wouldn't be complete strangers anymore.

"Eighteen. What school are you going to around here?"

"I'm not going to school." I said a little too quick.

He cocked his head to the side. "Flunked out?"

No," I laughed and moved around in the grass. "I finished school online before we moved here. I got all my core credits and some extra credits in art. I got my diploma and everything." I said with a nod and a bright smile. I didn't like to boast, but that _was _something I was proud of. "I'm even in my first semester of college."

"College?" He looked more than surprised; his eyes were almost bulging out of his head.

"Yeah, online college." I was having fun with this.

"So you're really smart..." He trailed off.

"Nah," I shook my head and stared up at the sky. The sun was almost setting, which meant I would be painting soon. Where did the time go? "I'm not a genius or anything like that..."

"Then what made you want to finish school so early? You had like, what, three more years left of high school?"

"Two, actually." I corrected.

"Then why would you want to leave your friends so early?" He scooted closer to me as the wind started blowing. I held my easel in place from tipping over and wished that I had brought a jacket. It was unusually cold for September.

"I had one best friend, and she left so I decided that being in school was boring without her. So my parents pulled me out and I finished online. It's not like I was missing anything. Anyway, sir, I believe that was five questions. What's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"What's your favorite animal?"

"I don't really like animals. They're annoying."

My eyes grew wide and I gasped. "How can you not like animals? They're adorable. There's something wrong with you." I teased, poking him in the chest. "Alright, do you miss being alive?"

"No."

"Not even a little?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I still feel like I'm alive, except without the aging part getting in the way. I can stay young forever. Like being a vampire but without the fangs and craving blood. One more question, and then it's my turn."

"Alright..." I searched my mind for something. I knew what I wanted to ask him, but I wasn't going to because I didn't know if it would make him upset or angry. So instead I asked, "Cats or dogs?" Something so simple, so stupid, but something to not get mad over.

He scrunched his face up and shook his head. "I just said I didn't like animals."

"I know, but if you _had_ to choose, which would it be? Cats or dogs?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. My mom was calling me. I mentally sighed. I didn't want to talk to her. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now except Tate.

"Fine, dogs then." He finally answered. My phone stopped ringing and I tisked him.

"Dogs? You're lame. Cats are the way to go." I stood up and stretched. I redialed my mom's number. "Hold on, I'm calling my mom back." I said and turned away from him and walked to the edge of the hill. "Hey mom, sorry I didn't answer before." I said, beginning to pace back and forth.

"Wynter, something happened." She sounded like she had been crying. I froze and gulped.

"Mom, what happened? Is it Autumn? Is she okay? What about dad? Is he okay? Are you okay?" I was asking a million questions a minute, but so many horrible things were racing through my mind. I couldn't think straight. I couldn't even see straight.

"We're fine. But Wynter...Arielle's little sister died this morning." My heart was pounding out of my chest. Everything seemed to go fuzzy around me.

"W-what?" I was trying to keep the strain of crying from my voice but it wasn't working. "How? How could this happen...?"

"She was abducted from school a few days ago. They just found her body..." My mom trailed off. She sounded like she had been crying for a while now.

"Wait, she was kidnapped a few days ago and you're _just now_ telling me?" I shrieked. A minute later Tate was standing in front of me, a look of concern on his face. I gave him a sad look and then turned my back to him and walked to the other side of the clearing. "Mom, why the hell didn't you tell me sooner? Like when it happened!"

"I didn't want to worry you, Wynter!" She hissed from the other end. "She...with everything that's happened... I didn't want you to do something... I just wanted you to be okay."

"You didn't want me to do something? What did you think I would do, mom? Kill myself? If I haven't offed myself after everything that's happened, what makes you think I will now? You should have told me mom, you should have told me!" I shouted. The wind began to pick up and I had to crouch down to keep from flying away. I hoped that Tate was saving my paint stuff.

"Wynter please... I just-I was just trying to protect you."

"Some job you did!"

"Please! Just... I thought...everyone thought that they would find her before...the police said that they would be able to find her. They were so close...but not close enough. They're having the funeral next week." She said and then took a deep breath. "Are you going to come with us? We're leaving tomorrow to make sure to get there early enough...we'll be staying with Margaret and Dan." Margaret and Dan were Arielle and Fiona's parents. Ever since what happed last year, I haven't been able to show my face to them, or anyone in my town.

"No..." I said, standing back up once the wind died down. "No, I'm not going. I can't."

"Wynter, no one there blames you for what happened." My mom's voice was soothing, like how a mother's voice should be. But I wasn't reassured.

"No, mom, I can't. I just can't..." I whispered, wiping my eyes before tears had the chance to fall from them.

"I wish that you would change your mind, but I know you won't. I'll let the Barnett's know you're condolences. Are you going to be okay staying alone in that house for a week?"

"Yeah mom, I'll be fine. Moira will be there, and you said that Constance will be checking up on me." I said, brushing off the fact that I would be stuck in the house alone for a week with a bunch of ghosts who were going to harass me until I found a way to get them out of that house.

"Speaking of Constance, she called me earlier. She said she went by this afternoon to check on you but Moira said you went out with someone... Where are you? Who are you with?" And there goes the protective motherly instinct kicking in. Can't say that I haven't missed that. At least I knew she still cared, even if she was still trying to get over the fact that I...

"I'm at some lake with a new friend." I said, turning back around to see Tate setting back up my easel. He turned to give me a sheepish grin and I gave him a small wave and smile.

"You made a new friend?" She gasped in surprise.

I rolled my eyes. "Wow mom, don't sound so surprised..."

"I-I am surprised! And I'm happy that you've finally got someone to hang out with. Now you won't be cooped up in the house all the time. Maybe you'll turn into a social cat like Autumn."

"I wouldn't get your expectations up that far, mom. And it's called a social butterfly, not cat." I laughed. She was trying to change the subject. It was sort of working.

"You know me, old. I can't keep up with the words the kids are using these days. Anyway, your father and I will be home tonight. We're going to have a family dinner before leaving."

"How are you and dad?" Their relationship was a one-sided thing. Meaning they only cared for each other, and were trying to care for us. My mom was actually getting better at paying attention to her children, but my father on the other hand...well, he was a man after all. An emotionless, uncaring, never home, work absorbed, man.

"We're getting by. Alright, I have to go now. I just wanted to tell you... Wynter, I'm sorry." She said and then I heard someone shouting from the other end. Probably the man she was going to represent in the new case she was working on too soon. I sighed and pressed the end call button and shoved my phone back in my pocket. I rubbed my eyes and put on a smile as I walked back over to where Tate was standing.

"Everything okay?" He asked as I approached.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Um, it's time for me to paint." I said, moving in front of the blank canvas. Tate stood behind me to watch and I laughed. "I've never had someone watch me while I paint." I said, pouring some purple, blue, red, orange, and yellow paints in the little cups sitting in the easel bucket.

"Does it bother you?" He whispered in my ear. Shivers went up my spine and I felt my heart skip some beats. I hadn't realized how close he was standing next to me.

"Um...no, it's fine. I might mess up though. You know, pressure." I turned my face to him and was shocked that he was merely two inches away from me. I gulped. Honestly, and this is going to sound lame, but this was the closest that I had been next to a guy. Ever. (Go ahead and laugh, it's okay, I won't stop you.)

"No pressure. Just...have fun."

"I have an idea." Okay, I was about to be seriously bold here. I was practically having a panic attack just thinking about it. "You...wanna paint?" I held a paint brush in front of him and stepped aside so that he was now standing in front of the awaiting canvas.

"But...I don't know how to paint." He said, rolling the medium sized brush between his palms.

"It's not rocket science." I laughed and then pointed up at the sky. "Just...paint what you see." He stared at the canvas for a few minutes and then sighed. Now I was bringing out my bold move. I grabbed his hand with the paint brush in it and dipped the tip of the brush in the blue paint, then began to make light strokes on the canvas. "There, see, it's easy." I mumbled. I wondered if his heart was as erratic as mine. Probably not. He seemed to be in control of his feelings at the moment, me on the other hand, I had to scold myself to keep from shaking.

The whole time I guided his hand across the canvas, creating the picture of the sky in front of us. We didn't say anything, but what was there to say, anyway? Every now and then we made eye contact. Truly, this was the best day I've had in a long time...

The sunset was so beautiful, so peaceful, so sad. It was something bittersweet, and I didn't want it to go away.

* * *

**A/N: I totally forgot that they can only leave the house on Halloween...so...let's just leave that part out of the story, okay? XD They can leave the house whenever they want, but if they stray way too far they get teleported back to the house. Oh, and on Halloween they can go as far as they want and still become more human. Yeah, let's just go with that. Sorry for forgetting. lol my bad.**

**Please review and let me know what you think! Four more reviews and then I'll post the next chapter? That sounds like a fair price. lol Thanks for reading, guys!**


	4. Dinner for One, Please

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Four: Dinner for One, Please**_

Tate and I made it back to the house at around seven. My parent's cars weren't in the driveway as expected. "Could you take this stuff up to my room while I call my parents?" I asked. Tate nodded and I handed him my easel. I opened the front door for him and watched as he climbed the stairs to my room. "Moira!" I called as I went into the kitchen. She was standing in front of the sink washing some dishes.

"What is it, Wynter?" She asked, turning to me while drying a plate.

"Um…" I leaned against the counter and pulled my phone out. Now it was seven-thirty. My mom never called me back and my dad didn't even bother to call. My sister, of course, didn't text me. I never knew about her now-a-days. "Have my parents called…?" I put my phone back in my pocket and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Oh yes, your father called just before you arrived. He said that he had booked the flight out to New York tonight on accident and that they were going to go ahead and go tonight instead of wasting money for a new flight in the morning. Your mother already came home and packed and left with your sister." She explained while returning to the dishes. I nodded my head and started laughing. Moira turned to give me a look like I was crazy and I just continued to laugh and began circling around the table in the kitchen. "Wynter…are you okay?" She asked. Young Moira flashed before me and put down the plate she was washing.

"Me? Oh yeah. I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine." I smiled. I shrugged and shook my head and then grabbed one of the plates. "I'm always fine!" I shouted and then threw the plate down on the ground and it smashed into a million tiny pieces. Moira jumped back and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh damn it…" I muttered and dropped to my knees and began picking up the slivers of glass. A piece sliced my hand and I leaned back on the sink cabinets.

"Wynter…" Old Moira bent down beside me and began picked up the white glass splattered with little drops of the blood flowing from my hand.

"I'm sorry, Moira. I didn't mean to snap like that… They just piss me off so bad. I mean…my mom called me earlier today and told me that they were leaving in the morning…and that tonight we were going to have a family dinner. All of us. _Together_. Do you know how long it's been since we've all sat down and eaten together?" I looked up at her with tears falling from my eyes. She gave me a sad smile and I shook my head. "But I guess that doesn't matter…"

"It matters, Wynter. Families should be together." When she was done gathering all the glass she got a wet paper towel and held it firmly on my slashed palm.

"Mind telling that to my parents? Because they seem to not understand that. It was bad ever since I can remember, but it grew really bad after last year. Now they really are hardly home, my parents barely talk to each other, or to me and my sister. I have small conversations with my mom, but my dad hasn't even spoken more than thirty words to me each day. He hasn't even talked to me today. My sister never wants to spend time with me… I guess I'm just really boring. Hah." I got up and ran my hand under the cool water.

"It's a pretty deep cut, Wynter. You might need to get that stitched up." The maid pointed out, handing me another paper towel. The blood just kept flowing from the wound. It stung so bad.

"Right," I laughed. "Like I'm going to go to the hospital. My mom would kill me if she found out I had to get stitches for breaking a damn plate."

"There's a doctor in the house." Young Moira flashed me a sly grin and then a man in a white coat appeared in front of me. I jumped back in surprise and held my chest. "This is Charles Montgomery, the builder and original owner of this house. He's a doctor…of sorts." Moira shrugged and then turned back into an old woman and inspected the floor to make sure she had gotten all the glass up.

"It's…very nice to meet you." I said. "Does my hand need stitches?" I held my hand up to him and he examined it. Then he nodded and took out a needle and some thread-looking wire. "Whoa shit!" I jumped back and held my hand to my chest. "No way are you sticking that through my hand. Nooooo. Oh no. You gotta do something else. Needles are a no go." I said, walking behind Moira. The man looked at me through his glasses and sighed.

"It won't hurt that bad." He said. "I can fix anything. I am a doctor. Just let me stitch it up before you lose too much blood and it gets infected." He said, moving closer to me. I gulped and shook my head.

"I'd rather it get infected."

"You'd rather what get infected?" Tate asked as he emerged into the kitchen.

"Wynter sliced her hand open." Moira said, moving from in front of me and going back to the dishes.

"What?" Tate rushed to my side and grabbed my hand. He looked at it up and down and then said, "Wynter you need stitches. Dr. Montgomery knows what he's doing." He said with a nod.

I sighed and then nodded my head. "Fine…"

"Moira, get me a wrap, some gauze, and alcohol." Charles said and then grabbed me by the good hand and led me into the living room where a woman with blond hair was sitting in the love seat. "That's my wife, Nora." He said, walking past her and sitting me down in a chair. He pulled a lamp in front of me and positioned the light on my hand. I nodded at Nora, who was watching with a gaze that could split me in two. Moira returned minutes later with the supplies Charles had sent her to get. My nerves were going haywire. I thought I was about to pass out.

"Hey, it's okay." Tate said, bending down beside me. "It's gonna hurt," Oh, well at least he wasn't trying to sugar coat it for me. "But it's gonna hurt a whole lot less than if it were to get infected." Eh, he was right. But still, the point is that I'm about to turn into a huge baby and cry my eyes out.

"Ready?" Charles asked, sitting down in front of me and opening the white bottle of alcohol. I nodded, biting my lip. "Alright, you're gonna have to hold really still. When I'm stitching you up you can't move…or I'll mess up." Oh well that's reassuring. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Charles poured the alcohol over my hand and I bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming. It felt like my skin was on fire. Then it felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly. Tears were rolling out of my tightly closed eyes and down my cheeks. I felt someone grip my free hand and I opened my eyes a little to see Tate's hand death gripping mine. I didn't have the strength to match the death grip, so I just lazily squeezed back. In ten minutes, though it felt like ten hours, Charles stopped and poured some more alcohol on my palm. It stung, but not as much as the first time. I sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair as he placed a gauze in my palm and wrapped it up. "There, it should be closed in a few days. I'll let you know when the stitches can come out." He said and then disappeared. When he was gone I saw Nora still sitting on the couch in front of me. She gave me a sad look and then disappeared as well.

"God that was horrible." I mumbled. Tate let go of my hand and I stood up. I clenched my now doctored hand and scratched the back of my head. "Man I'm stupid." I laughed.

"You're not stupid, just clumsy." Tate said.

I shook my head. "No…not clumsy, stupid. I broke the plate on purpose." I admitted.

"Why would you do that?" He asked, getting up and standing in front of me.

I turned away from him, embarrassed for the reason. "Because…we were supposed to have a family dinner tonight before my parents and sister left for New York tomorrow, but apparently my dad booked the flight for tonight instead. So…without telling me, they left. I know it's a dumb reason, but I really was looking forward to having a family dinner with the four of us…"

"It's not a dumb reason." He said, grabbing my shoulders. "You just miss your family." He stared into my eyes and I tried to look away. There he was, reeling me in again with those damn haunting eyes.

"Yeah…yeah I really do miss my family." I muttered. We were silent for a few seconds, just staring at each other and then I said, "Okay, well I'm going to go talk to Moira for a minute…and then I'm going to take a shower. I'll see you later?"

He smirked at me. "Where am I going to go?" He disappeared and I was left alone in the living room. I ran my hands through my hair and then pulled my phone out. I dialed my dad's number and it went straight to voice mail. Whoa, what a surprise. His voice message told me to leave my name and number and he would get back to me. I laughed at his simpleness.

"Hey dad, it's me, Wynter, you know, the daughter you haven't talked to in like three days? Yeah, I'm still alive. Just kickin it in this new, old, huge, lonely house. I was really looking forward to that family dinner mom was talking about tonight. Guess I got my hopes up in wanting an actual conversation with the man who made me. But whatever. See you when you get back from New York. Or not. Whichever you prefer. …I love you, dad." The tone sounded to signal that my message was done recording and I ended the call. He would get the message, whether he listened to it or not was up to him. I hoped that he would listen to it, listen to my voice, feel sorry for leaving me here without saying something. But then again, he wasn't the one to take all the blame.

I walked into the kitchen to see Moira working over the stove. "Dinner for one tonight?" She asked, looking over at me.

"Yeah…dinner for one tonight. And for the next week…and maybe even more." I mumbled. "Anyway, thank you for not freaking out when I broke that plate… I'm sorry I made a mess for you to clean up."

She looked over at me again and flashed me a young smile. "Don't worry about it, Wynter, we all have our bad days." It sounded like she was holding back something that she wanted to say. I knew what it was.

"Moira…I'll look for something tomorrow…about freeing all of you from the house." When I said that she perked up and nodded at me. "Let me know when dinner's done. I'm going to go get clean." I turned to leave but then turned back. "Moira…Tate, he's a good kid, isn't he?"

She turned to me with a sad expression. "We all have shadows in our past, Wynter, but I'm not at liberty to tell you his."

I nodded. "I understand…I understand…" I walked away that time. I went up the stairs and into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. "Just look at you…" I whispered to myself. "Would you ever think you would be here right now?" I took off my shirt and ruffled up my hair. "Of course not. Right now you should be in New York, living it up with your best friend. Maybe getting drunk. You know how badly you've always wanted to get drunk." I stripped off my pants. "Or maybe you would be by the pool. Or paining the skyway off the top of a building." I fully stripped off all my clothing and stared at myself in the mirror. "But here you are, here you are…like this…and you can't make it better." More tears rolled down my face and I quickly turned away before I had the urge to smash the mirror and mess up my good hand. I ran some hot bath water and sat down in the tub. I didn't like taking baths, but that's what it looked like would be my only source of getting clean for the next few days due to my temper getting the better of me.

And then realization hit me. I sliced up my right hand. And I'm fucking right handed. I groaned and hit my head back on the tub. I cursed myself and then sank under the water. If this night could get any worse, I would probably just say screw the world.

That night I sat in my bedroom alone, listening to music on my bed. I still had a lot of unpacking to do, but I was too tired to do it tonight. Tate and I talked for a while after my bath. We talked about nothing and everything. It was weird, we acted like we've know each other for forever. None of the other ghosts bothered us, either. I was thankful for that. Maybe Moira told them I would be looking for an answer to their problems tomorrow. No pressure, though, right?

I pulled out my ear-buds and lay down in my comfortable bed. I was actually planning to go to sleep at a reasonable time (eleven) when my cell phone buzzed. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was from my sister and instantly thought that hell had frozen over. I opened it and it read _'Mom wanted me to let u know that we're almost in NY.' _I sent a quick reply, which was a one letter 'K' response and shut my phone off.

Why couldn't mom just let me know herself? She probably thought that I would get pissed off at her and start screaming at her (well, texting her in all caps). And she probably thought right. I wished that we could all just be a family again. Well, we were never actually a family. But I wished that things could go back to the way they were a year ago.

I fell asleep wondering what tomorrow would bring…

* * *

**A/N: This chapter's a little short, sorry about that. But two chapters in a day, not bad yeah? Anyway, review and I'll post three chapters this weekend. But only if I get reviews...I need to know that you guys like this story! ^_^**

**Review and let me know what you think!  
**


	5. This Time Imperfect

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Five: This Time Imperfect**_

I was standing in front of my full length mirror, buttoning my black lace shirt when Tate popped up behind me, scaring the crap out of me. "Could you please not do that?" I asked, slipping on my black converse and grabbing my green messenger bag.

"Still not used to ghosts in the house?" He asked, his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.

"Not used to them making a habit of sneaking up on me every chance they get." I mumbled as I began walking out my bedroom door.

"Hey, wait," He grabbed my hand and turned me to face him. He looked down at my wrapped hand and made a sad face. "How's your hand?"

"It's fine."

"Why are you being so short?"

"I'm not… I-I just didn't sleep well last night and I want to hurry up and find something for Hayden so she won't scream at me anymore. She gives me a headache." I said. Tate still held my hand in his and then grabbed my other one.

"I can talk to her, if you want."

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. Once I find something she'll get off my back."

"You really think you'll find something?" I could sense hope in his voice, but not so much that I felt he wanted to leave.

"I'm going to try." I said with a yawn. Suddenly Tate pulled me into his arms, and I was surprised he was actually giving me a hug. I hugged him back and he held me tight. Once he finally let go I asked, "What was that for?"

He didn't answer the question, instead he just said, "Hurry up and get back. I want you to teach me to play the piano." He said and then sat down at my black Grand Piano. He touched a few keys and then banged his fist on them. I cringed and inched closer to the door.

"Okay, I'll teach you, but please just don't break it…"

"If I break it I'll buy you a new one." He shrugged and pounded a few more keys.

"With what money?"

"Ghost money." He winked at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh whatever. I'll be back as soon as I can. Just be nice to my piano. Or I'll kill you." I winked at him as I left my room and headed down the stairs. I caught Moira just as I reached the bottom step.

"Where are you going so early?" It was old Moira, the one I felt most comfortable with. She was carrying a tray of smoking cups, which were either filled with hot tea or coffee. Was the maid planning for someone to come over and have a tea party with her?

"I'm…going into town." I answered.

"For what?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Well jeez Moira, why do you think?" I asked, walking past her and to the door. I turned back to see her upset expression and I sighed. "I found an address for this magic place in the city. I'm going to go check it out. Maybe they have something…"

"A magic store?" There was laughter in her voice, and quite frankly it pissed me off.

"Well I'm trying here, Moira. Do just not want me to try at all?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips. She looked away from me and shook her head. "That's what I thought. I'll be home later." I opened the front door and walked out, slamming it shut behind me. I can face to face with Michael and gasped. God, what the hell was with everyone sneaking up on me today? "Hi, Michael." I mumbled as I moved past him. He just stood in silence, staring at me like I was a bug he wanted to smash. This boy creeped me out with his ominous stare. If felt like he was reading me like an open book. Not something I was reassured about. "Alright…" I moved past him and down the porch steps where I ran into Constance.

"Oh, where are you off to this morning?" She asked, puffing on a cigarette. I held my breath and waved the grey, cancer filled smoke out of my face.

"I'm going into the city to see what I can get in to." I said.

"Need a ride?" She called as I walked to the side of the house.

"Nah!" I called back. I grabbed my purple bike and rolled it to the front of the house. "I got it covered." I sat on the seat and began to pedal away.

"Alright, just be careful!" She shouted after me as I rolled away on the sidewalk. _'Whatever.'_ I thought. She acted like my mother. And god knows that I didn't need another one of those.

As I rode farther away from the house I realized something. I knew why those two creeped me out so much…it was because instead of having a white glow around them, they had a grey. I didn't know what that meant. The dead have darkness around them and the living have white. But…why did they have grey? They weren't dead, and they sure as hell were alive.

I kept thinking about the grey around them as I reached the city. I came to a stop by a Black Magic store and looked at it, making sure that it was the right place. The windows were tinted black, the front door was rimmed with what looked like blood, and the sign above the store read _Blake's Black Magic_. Oh yeah, this was the place. I gulped and parked my bike on the side of the store and hoped that a homeless person wouldn't steal it. I fixed my shirt and then walked into the store. It actually kind of surprised me; I expected the inside to be dim lit with chains and leather hanging everywhere, but in fact it was the exact opposite; the store was brightly lit, and there were books on every shelf with candles and a variety of Ouija Boards cascaded everywhere. Behind the counter was a man, maybe twenty-something. He had shoulder length black hair, pale skin, and was wearing tight black clothes. He was gorgeous, and I tried not to stare as I walked around the store in hope to find something about ghosts.

"Can I help you?" His voice was rough and sexy. I was glad that I was the only one in the store, but I was sure that I was blushing.

"Um…n-no. I'm fine." I mumbled as I scanned the walls for a particular book. Okay, I didn't exactly know what I was looking for, but I'm sure if I looked long enough I would find something about sprits and ghosts. Something useful.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" He suddenly whispered behind me. I jumped and held my chest. Again with the people sneaking up on me today. Maybe it's just because I'm so jumpy. Screw it.

"U-um, got anything on ghosts?" I asked, trying to not look into his piercing blue eyes. He smirked at me and then motioned for me to follow him to the other side of the store.

"I've never seen you before." Ah, small talk. The one thing I was not good at.

"Yeah…I just moved here."

"Oh really? Where'd you move to?"

"That old house on Haywire Street." I mumbled. I hadn't realized he stopped walking and turned to me. I bumped into him and stepped back. He was looking at me with wide, scared eyes. "W-what?" I asked. I was trying to not break a sweat.

"Around here that's known as the Murder House." He said grimly and then turned back to the book shelf. "A lot of shit's gone down in that house." He plucked a book off the shelf and handed it to me. "There, everything you need to know about ghosts." I looked at the cover. **Understanding The Paranormal For Dummies **clever, but not what I was looking for. I must admit, the guy gets ten points for trying, but minus twenty for failing.

I smirked and laughed. "This isn't what I need." He grabbed the book from my hands and put it back on the shelf. He turned back to me with his hands on his leather covered hips.

"Then what do you need?" He bent down to get in my face and I backed up. He really was making me feel uncomfortable.

"I need…I need something…on how to unbind spirits…from a place…like I house." With every word I said his face sunk in.

"You don't need to mess with that kind of stuff, little girl." He said and then shoved past me to stand behind the checkout counter again. I glared at his back and followed him. Once behind the counter he placed his nametag back on his shirt and I put my hands on my hips. Now it was my turn to get smart.

"Listen to me, _Blake_, you have what I need, I know you do. They don't call this a magic store for nothing. I'm not leaving here until you give me what I want." I said sternly. He sighed deeply and then moved from behind the counter to a door at the left end of the store. He motioned for me to follow him, which I gladly did. He opened the door and we entered the room. Now, this is what I was expecting; black lights, curtains hanging everywhere, skulls thrown around here and there, and a black candle in the middle of it all, lit with a red flame.

"Follow me." He waved for me to follow him to the back of the small room and I did, following closely behind him so that I wouldn't knock anything over. He reached up on a high book shelf and then turned to me, my face in his chest. He placed a hand on my shoulder, spun me around, and then guided me back out of the room. Once out he shut and locked the door back and then returned behind the counter. He looked at me sadly and rang up the book. "Thirty-seventy-five." Whoa, pricey. I shrugged and pulled out my wad of cash. I counted out the exact amount and passed it over the counter. Our hands brushed against each others for a brief second and I felt electricity run down my spine, and then I realized. This boy, this guy, Blake, he could see them too. That's why…

"And this has what I need?" I asked as he handed me the book.

He nodded. "This has everything you need and more…" He tapped the front cover of the book, which was black and lacy. There was no title, but was one really necessary?

"You can see them too, can't you?" I whispered. There was no point for my low voice; there was no one in the store, but I couldn't risk taking a chance. Blake hung his head low and then nodded, resting his head in his hand.

"Yeah…yeah, I can. And I don't fuck with them, because I know what will happen." He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He offered me one but I declined.

"I'm not fucking with them, I'm…helping them." I said. He laughed and shook his head.

"No matter what you think, you're fucking with them. You're fucking with fate. You don't fuck with fate, she'll fuck _you_ up."

I wrinkled my eyebrows at him. "I'm not fucking with anything!" I hissed.

"It doesn't matter how you look at it, you're fucking with it, and the outcome isn't going to be pretty."

"How do you know, have you done it before?" I cocked my head to the side. He rubbed his temple and then nodded slowly.

"I have…and I'll never do it again."

"Why, what happened?"

"Something awful."

"I guess I'll just have to find it out on my own, right?" I asked with a smile. He looked up at me and took a long drag from his cancer stick and then smiled.

"You're stubborn, aren't you?" I nodded. "Alright, you'll find out on your own. But I'm warning you now. Fate is a bitch. Karma is an even bigger bitch. You may think you're doing the right thing, but really, you're just digging yourself a deep grave."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "I don't know how much deeper my grave can get, Blake." He put his cigarette out on the table just as someone else walked in. I turned to see three boys, maybe about Blake's age linger in the doorway of the store. They were all dressed in black and, would you guess, smoking. I turned back to the boy in front of me and sighed. "Now I should go. Thanks, Blake."

He grabbed my hand as I stepped away from the counter. I turned back to see his blue eyes full of worry. "Just please, try to be careful." I nodded and he let my hand go. I ran out of the store in a hurry and walked to the side of the store. Luckily, my bike was still there. I hopped on and placed the bag in the front basket on my bike and began pedaling back to the house.

The whole way home I couldn't stop thinking about the dark, mysterious Blake, and what caused him to be able to see spirits like me. I wanted to ask him, but I didn't want to get too personal. He didn't look like the type to open up easily.

I parked my bike on the side of the house and on my way to the front porch I ran into two little red head boys. One had his throat slit and the other had scratches on him. Honestly, these things didn't freak me out anymore. "Are you going to help us?" The one with the slit throat asked.

"I—I um, I'm going to try…" I said, walking around them and backing up towards the front door.

"We've been here too long; we're ready to go home." The other said and then they walked away from me to the back of the house. If it was their goal to make me feel bad, it worked. I felt my eyes watering as I walked into the house and bumped into Moira.

"Oh, Wynter, you're home. You've been gone a while." She said, walking past me and into the kitchen. I followed after her, my stomach suddenly growling. I realized that I hadn't eaten anything all day.

"What time is it, Moira?" I asked, placing the book on the counter.

"Three in the afternoon. You've been gone a few hours. You actually made Tate worry about you." She said, looking at me with a slight smile. I could feel myself blushing. I grabbed an apple from the basket in the middle of the table and chomped down on it.

"Really?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but really, I wanted to know how badly he missed me. Was that selfish? At this moment I really didn't care.

She nodded. "It drives him crazy that he can't go that far from the house… Um, Wynter, what did you find?" She asked, turning to me and eyeing the bag on the table. Young Moira flashed in front of me and I sighed with a roll of my eyes.

"I found a book… I think it'll have what I'm looking for in it."

"You think?"

"Moira, please, calm down." I said and then grabbed the bag and left the kitchen and started up the stairs to my room. I opened my bedroom door and saw Tate sitting at my piano, staring at the white and black keys. When I stepped into the room his head perked up and he turned to me with a bright smile on his face.

"You're back!" He hyped. I smiled and sat beside him on the piano bench. I threw the bag on my bed as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. There he went making me blush again.

"Hey, um, Tate, I have a question…" I trailed off, wondering if I should ask or not. He raised his eyebrows at me and waited for me to go on. I sighed mentally and then went on. "Constance and Michael…what can you tell me about them?"

"Why?" He asked fast, looking at me with wide eyes.

I shrugged, scooting back a little from his sudden surprise. "Um…nothing. It's nothing." I shook my head. "I was just wondering because Autumn seems to be spending all her time over there…" I trailed off and then shook my head again. "It's nothing, forget I asked. I'm just being an over-protective sister."

"Oh…it's okay. But I wouldn't be much help anyway; I don't know much about them. They're weird. That's about it." He said.

I nodded. "That they are, that they are."

"Alright," He said, putting his arm around me again and pulling me closer to him. Closer than I was before. "Teach me to play the piano." He smiled. I smiled back and nodded.

We played the piano for the rest of the day. I must say, Tate wasn't that bad. For a beginner. At dinner my mom called (yeah, actually called) and said that they had gotten held up at the New York airport and weren't going to make it back home in the time they were supposed to. I acted like it bothered me, but really, I was relieved. A few more days without anyone _living _in the house to bother me seemed a-okay with me. As bad as that sounds. I liked being here with them, these ghosts, these spirits, no matter how badly some of them got on my nerves, I liked being with them more than I did the living.

* * *

**A/N: I feel like this chapter was a little rushed...like, not enough happened in it. Huh. Oh well. What do you guys think? I think the next chapter might be longer...actually, yeah the next chapter will be longer. Haha. **

**Notice how Tate is already lying to her about...things. Wonder if that's the last time we'll hear from Blake...hmmm...haha. Alright, I plan to update twice tomorrow, maybe more if I get into the writing mood. It took me a while to get in the right mood to write some more of this story today. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
**

**Please review and let me know what you think!  
**


	6. Roses and Rain

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Six: Roses and Rain**_

_It was raining when I pulled up to my house. But this wasn't normal rain. It was red. It was blood. Covering myself with my hoodie I ran up to the porch and quickly unlocked my door. When I entered my house I was immediately smacked in the face with the smell of rotting flesh. I covered my nose and left the door open, trying to fan out the horrible smell._

"_Mom!" I called out. There was no answer. I tried flipping on the lights, but they wouldn't come on. I walked into the kitchen and gasped. Hanging above the kitchen table was Arielle. She was hanging by a noose from the ceiling fan. I let out a sharp scream and ran from the kitchen back to the living room. I almost made it out the front door when Arielle appeared in front of me, the rope still around her neck and hanging to the side._

"_Wynter…" She mumbled, looking up at me. Her eyes were sunken in, her cheeks were hollow, and her teeth were rotting out. She wasn't the Arielle I remembered. Then again, ever since she became addicted to meth, she became a different person. "You let me die." She said, moving forward and reaching out to me. I stumbled back, falling over some stuffed animals.._

"_I-I didn't do anything!" I shouted._

"_But you did…" She whispered and then bent down to me. Her wrinkly hand touched my face and then my house crumbled in front of me. I was falling in a black pit. I couldn't scream, all I could do was watch the walls change color around me as I fell. Scenes from the finals days of Arielle's life, our happiness, flashed around me. We were happy, we were laughing, we were talking like best friends do. But it was all fake. All of it. Everything we thought we were, all the problems we faced together, we just couldn't get through this. This one last time, we didn't have each other._

_Tears started forming in my eyes as I hit the bottom of the black hole. I arched my back, and bounced a few times before I finally lay still. I couldn't breathe. I was dying. In my final breaths I saw Arielle standing above me, moving her head side to side. She bent down over my body and smiled._

"_Feel what I feel." She whispered in my ear. I finally let out a withheld breath and felt all life leave my body._

"Ahk!" I shot up in my bed, holding my neck, taking in deep, gasping breaths. My head was pounding and I was pouring cold sweat. "Oh god." I whispered, criss-crossing my legs and running my hands through my hair. My hands were shaking like I was going through with drawls from drugs. I knew far too much what that was like (to see, not to feel).

"Bad dream?" I looked up to see a girl my age in the corner of my room. She walked closer to me and sat on the edge of my bed.

"Y-yeah…who are you?" I asked, taking deeper breaths to try to help slow my heart rate down.

"Violet…was the nightmare about Tate?" She asked.

I scrunched my face. "No. No, why would it be?"

"Because he's a bad person. He's done terrible things." She mumbled, moving some blonde hair out of her face.

"No one's perfect, Violet." It intrigued me to know why she was saying this about him, but it wasn't my place to ask her, and it wasn't her place to tell me.

"You don't know him! He's evil! He's a monster." She shouted, jumping up from the bed and throwing her arms up in the air. She turned to me and grabbed my shoulders, giving me a shake. "You can't trust him, Wynter." She said.

"Are we any different from him? We're all monsters. Every single one of us." I said, leaning back from her. She kept a hold of my shoulders and stared into my eyes.

"What have you done that makes you a monster?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Nothing." I said, my eyes slanted at her.

"Bullshit." She laughed and let go of me. She turned to circle around my room and then looked back at me. "So what have you done?"

"Like I said, nothing." I kept my stare locked on her, making sure that my poker face was solid. I didn't think she was buying it though. She raised her eyebrows at me and then crossed her arms over her chest.

"And I call bullshit. You've done something, you just won't say. What, did you kill someone?" She asked with a taunting smile.

"I think it's time for you to leave, Violet." I mumbled.

"Why, just because you don't want to admit what you've done? Don't want to admit your mistakes?" She asked, her voice getting high.

"Go away!" I shouted. And just like that she disappeared. You tell a ghost to go away, and they have to leave. No questions asked, no time to loiter. I rubbed my tired eyes and lay back down in my bed. I closed my eyes and tried to think about something happy to keep the nightmares away. But there was nothing happy racing through my mind as I drifted back into sleep.

_I was back at my house, only it was daylight and it wasn't raining. It was a beautiful summer day, the sky was bright, and everything seemed peaceful. I was sitting on a blanket on the ground next to a girl with bleach blonde hair. Arielle. "Wynter, we should go somewhere." She looked up at me and I gasped. She looked so healthy, so happy, so pretty. Her eyes were brightly shining that gorgeous grey color and her face was full of life. That was the last time I'd seen her so happy. So carefree. So…alive._

"_Yeah, we can go anywhere." I said with a smile._

_The bright smile on her face faded and the sky started to go black. "No, we can't." She said darkly. It started to rain blood again and then lightening struck down on us. "We can't go anywhere, because one of us is dead!" She shouted at me. Suddenly all the life drained from her and she turned into that rotting corpse. She wasn't my best friend anymore, now she was just a distant stranger._

"_Arielle, please, we can talk about this. Please, let's just talk." I begged, standing up and backing away from her._

_She smiled a toothless grin at me and then shook her head. "What is there to talk about, Wynter? I'm dead. You can't take that back."_

"_No, I can't! But I would… I would, Arielle!" I shouted._

"_Why would you, Wynter? I was just going to die anyway…"_

"_You had a problem, Ari, I could have helped you… I should have helped you. I wanted to help you." I stopped in my tracks as she got two feet away from me. Blood tears were falling down her cheeks and I couldn't stop myself from crying, too._

"_But you didn't help me, Wynter. You didn't help me…" She trailed off._

"_I tried, Arielle. I tried…but you didn't let me. You wouldn't let anyone help you…"_

_Her face grew dark and then she jumped on me, her hands circling around my throat. "I needed you! You should have tried harder!" She shouted and then twisted my neck until it was fully wrapped around to my back. I was dead. She was dead. And we could suffer together._

This time when I woke up I wasn't screaming in fear and gasping for air. I was in a cold sweat and crying instead. I turned over in my bed and came face to face with Tate. Seeing his face made me think of what Violet told me when I woke up earlier. Without thinking I asked, "Tate, how did you become locked in the house?" His smiling face dulled and he turned away from me. It was then that I realized I shouldn't have asked. Some things are not meant for us to know…some things are meant to keep private.

"I'll tell you…" He trailed off, turning back to me. My eyes grew wide as he began playing with a strand of my hair. "But…you have to tell me…why you moved here. What's your secret, Wynter?"

"What makes you think I have a secret?" I asked.

He smiled faintly and laughed. "We all have secrets." He tossed my hair over my shoulder and then said, "I'll tell you mine of you tell me yours." He whispered. I nodded without saying a word, and then he told me his whole story. Burning the man his mother was sleeping with because he killed his brother, shooting those kids in his school, the police killing him in this room, becoming one with the house, and giving in to the darkness and killing some of the people who used to live in this house, causing them to be a part of this damned place.

He told me more than he should have, but I stayed quiet and let him talk. I patiently waited for him to finish, and when he did he was crying. Tears were rolling down his face in a vertical angle due to lying on the bed. Once he finished I wiped his eyes with my nightshirt and hugged him. "I've done terrible things."

"We've all done terrible things." I said. He looked at me with his glistening dark brown eyes. He touched my face lightly, keeping the frown on his face.

"Do you hate me?" He asked in a small voice.

"No," I shook my head. "I don't hate you."

"Really?" He asked in a hopeful voice.

"Really." I said confidently.

"Why? Why don't you hate me?" He questioned.

"Because you haven't done anything to me. I have to reason to hate you. I promise to never hate you."

"Promises don't mean anything." I touched the side of his face and kissed his cheek. Now it was finally his turn to blush.

"They do to me. I have one request though."

"What?"

"Just don't lie to me, Tate."

"I won't…I won't lie to you." He looked reluctant to say it, but nodded to reassure me. I could sense that now it was my turn to tell my story, and I was buying time before I had to. Maybe he would just let it slide. Maybe he didn't want to know. Maybe after telling me about his past he wouldn't care to hear about mine. "So now you tell me…why did you move here?" The dreaded question.

After a few minutes of silence and Tate staring at me with his sad eyes I said, "I killed someone, Tate."

"Who?" His eyes practically bulged out of his head and I felt like crawling under my bed and staying there for the rest of the day. I coughed and looked away from him. I didn't know if I would be able to explain without breaking down. I haven't talked to anyone about it and I didn't know if I was ready…

"My best friend…" I trailed off. He continued to look at me, waiting for me to go on. I took a few deep breaths and then went on. "She…over the summer…she went to a party without me. She liked to party…I wasn't one for partying. But this time, I was invited, I just decided to not go…" I sat up in the bed and crossed my arms over my chest. Tate stayed lying down and waited patiently. "She…that night…she did some meth. She just wanted to try it…but it only takes using it once…and you're hooked. That morning at school was the last time I saw her looking alive, because after that night at the party she became a whole different person. She was erratic, mean, never wanted to hang out with me anymore. She stole my money. She got so thin…she was so sick…" I felt hot tears rolling down my face and I gasped, having flashbacks of the dream and quickly wiped my face. Sounds stupid, but I had to make sure that it wasn't blood. "It had her. The monster had her. And then one day, the last day I saw her, she came to me…"

_**{Flashback}**_

_**I came home that day with one thing on my mind, and that was to go to bed. It was a horrible day at school. Arielle didn't show up again for the seventh day in a row and people were making fun of her, calling her a Crack Head and a Meth Whore. I, of course, defended my best friend, and the result of that was for me to get In School Suspension for a week. I didn't care; no one slandered Arielle while I was around.**_

_**Walking up to the house I noticed that the front door was wide open. I walked up the steps with caution and had my phone ready in my hand to dial 911 if I had to. I was hoping that I didn't have to. No one was downstairs so I walked up to the second floor and saw that my bedroom door was hanging open. I shut it every day before I went to school. **_

_**I stopped outside my bedroom and listened to someone throwing things around in it. I peeked over the threshold and saw the scraggly blond hair and sickly lanky body of my best friend. "Ari…what are you doing?" I asked, walking into my bedroom as she threw a pair of my shoes out the open window. She turned to me, a wild and crazy look in her eyes.**_

"_**Your money, Wynter, where's your money?" She screamed, going back into my closet and pulling more things out. She tossed a few more things out the window and then ran up to me. She grabbed me with her frail fingers and shook me with what little energy she had. "Wynter, I need money! I need it." She shouted. I pushed her away from me.**_

"_**Arielle, no, I'm not giving you any money…" I trailed off.**_

"_**Why not?" She shouted. "You never help me! I feel like I'm dying, Wynter, I need the money! I'll die without it!"**_

"_**You'll die if I give it to you!" I shouted back. Tears were rolling out of both of our eyes now, but they were for two totally different reasons.**_

"_**If you won't help me then stay out of my way." She tried to push past me but I grabbed her and pulled her back. **_

"_**No, listen, Arielle, for the past month I've seen you throw your life away. You need help. Professional help. Just let me…let me help you." I pleated. She turned away from me and yanked her arm away. With a quickness she wiped her arm around and slashed my cheek with her nails. She just barely broke the skin, but it hurt enough for me to push her back with force. She screamed and I looked up to see that she lost her footing and was about to topple out my window. I was frozen in fear. I didn't know what to do. So she fell. She fell three stories down to the ground, out of my full length window. **_

_**I ran to the window and looked down to see her bent up body on the concrete of the back porch. Blood was around her head like a pool. And then something strange happened. A black figure appeared beside her, and then she stood up. Well, not her exactly, she was still dead on the ground, but her…spirit stood up from her body. What was once my best friend looked up at me and shook her head. The dark hooded figure pointed up at me and then they vanished.**_

_**I had just killed my best friend…and I felt nothing.**_

_**{End Flashback}**_

"They didn't arrest me…because my sister saw everything from my bedroom door, and she vouged for me. I didn't know she had been standing there the whole time…I didn't know she was home… I was on probation for almost a year and then…we moved out here." I finished the story. My face was soggy from all the tears that I shed and my nose was running. I was sure that my face was red, too. At this point I didn't care. I had never told anyone the full story of what happened, except the police when they showed up. The last time I was my best friend…she was dead. She was dead because I had killed her. I didn't know when I was going to get over that.

"But that wasn't your fault, Wynter." Tate said, sitting up and wrapping his arms around me.

I shook my head. "It was. If I was a better friend then I would have stopped her. I would have gotten her help. I could have done something."

"Look at me." He grabbed my face with his hands and pulled it close to his. He stared me in the eyes. I felt like he was looking into my soul. Hell, he probably was. "We all make mistakes, Wynter." He said slowly.

"But mine has caused so many people to hate me." I mumbled, placing my hands over his.

"I don't hate you." He whispered, and then something odd happened. He kissed me. On the lips, softly, slowly, gently. His hands were still gripping my face when he pulled apart. "Your face is red." He whispered with a smile.

"Well that's your fault." I grumbled with a smirk.

**-X-**

I was examining my freshly healed hand when I heard shouting outside my window. It sounded like my mother. I raised my eyebrows and got up and went downstairs. I was shocked at how long they'd been in New York; they left on the 23rd of September and are just now coming home on the 12th of October. I knew they had gotten held up at the airport, but I didn't know that they would be gone this long. Honestly, I enjoyed their time away from me.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs my sister busted through the front door and ran past me up the stairs. I shared the same look of confusion with young Moira and patiently waited for my parents to walk through the front door.

"Well, Greg, it wasn't my idea to stay in New York for almost four weeks!" My mother shouted as she and my dad came up the stairs to the front porch. "And I sure as hell didn't want to stay with the dead girl's parents the whole time!" Now that made me angry. How could my mother be so inconsiderate like that? How could she…be such a bitch? "It was your job to schedule our flights. It's your damn fault we got stuck in that storm. It's your damn fault we couldn't get home on time." My mother stormed into the house, threw her bags on the floor, and then stomped to the kitchen where she made a bunch of unnecessary noise. Moira gave me a sad look and then went into the kitchen after her.

"Hello, Wynter." My father said solemnly as he stepped into the house and picked up my mother's bags. I didn't say anything as he walked up the stairs past me. Thunder roared in the sky and I saw the heavy rain fall from the open doorway. I sighed and went to do shut the door but just as I stepped off the last step my sister ran past me and out into the rain.

"Welcome home, my beautiful family." I muttered as I shut and locked the front door. Autumn had a key, and even if she didn't she wouldn't be home tonight, anyway. She was going to see Michael, and that bothered me. She spent more time with him than she did with me. But I guess I couldn't blame her.

I didn't bother to see my mother in the kitchen; instead I walked back up the stairs to my room. Walking down the hallway I stopped to hear the noises coming from my parent's room. He was crying. There was nothing I could do. I walked back into my bedroom and shut the door behind me. Sitting on my bed was Tate, holding a large bouquet of purple and silver roses.

I smiled. This night wasn't so horrible.

* * *

**A/N: I'm really glad you guys like this story! I just wish that it could become as popular as my Naruto stories did… Not saying that I'm not grateful that you guys review and read, I am, I'm very grateful! I just wish it would become more popular. I would really like more feedback on this, to see how many people like it. **

**For those of you who are continuously reviewing, THANK YOU. You guys are awesome. :D And please, share this story with your friends online or in real life if they like American Horror Story. Yes, I am trying to boast this story…but I would like for more people to read it! ^_^**

**Please review and let me know what you think! Another chapter update soon. Possibly more!**


	7. The Door

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Seven: The Door**_

The past two weeks have been anything but pleasant; Autumn won't talk to me at all, my parents are never home, and when they are home they're fighting. Well, rather, my mother is yelling at my father and my father just leaves. Autumn is barely home, spending all of her time with that Michael guy, who still freaks me out more than living in a house full of ghosts does. Constance comes over every day to "make sure I'm okay" and stays for hours talking to me about things that I don't even care about. I still haven't figured out the grey aura around Constance or Michael. Moira and the others keep hounding me about getting them out of the house, and it gives me headaches and almost makes me not want to help them. _Almost_.

The nightmares haven't gone away, either. I'm losing more and more sleep every night, and it's getting me behind on my school work, which is causing me to be ten points from failing my four classes.

Now, I was sitting on the floor in my bedroom, my laptop in my lap, trying to work on one of my end of course papers. One of four, and this was the first one that I was working on, and I only had a paragraph. I couldn't get anything done because Hayden, Chad, young Moira, and Tate were fighting in the middle of my bedroom.

"What is she doing? She needs to be reading that damn book she bought!" Hayden shouted.

"She hasn't even picked it up since she bought it." Chad shouted.

"It's been almost two weeks!" Moira shouted.

"She's got a lot to do! Her world doesn't revolve around the three of you and your needs." Tate shouted back, his voice easily overpowering the other three's.

"It should, we could kill her." Hayden laughed.

"You don't want to do that." Tate said darkly.

"But we could. We could kill her and we could kill her family. They would be trapped here forever." Hayden's voice was getting scarier and scarier. I rubbed my hands through my hair and sighed. I just wanted some peace and quiet.

"Why would you want to kill her, Hayden?" Chad asked.

"She's trying to help us, killing her won't do anything but damn us more." Moira said.

"She needs to find a way to free us now!" Hayden began shouting again. My head was pounding. I couldn't think straight. I couldn't even think of one word to write for this paper.

"Could you guys please shut the hell up!" I shouted, getting up and slamming my laptop shut. The four of them looked at me with wide eyes and I grabbed a blanket, my laptop, and my iPod and walked to the door. "I can't work on my paper with you four screaming your heads off. I'm leaving."

"I'll go with you." Tate said, walking over to the door beside me.

I shook my head. "I'd rather be alone right now." I mumbled. He gave me a sad look but nodded in understandment.

"Where are you going?" Hayden asked. "You should be—"

"Hayden, go away!" I wailed at her. She disappeared and all was silent. "All of you just leave me alone." I whispered and then left my room and walked down the hall. I walked down the stairs and went to the door that was located just below it. I hadn't been down in the basement since we moved here. Seemed like the perfect place to get some work done. I opened the door and flipped on the light. I descended down the stairs and once I reached the concrete floor I saw shadows moving in the back corner. I walked closer and saw Autumn in a very heated (and disgusting) make-out session with Michael. I coughed and they pulled apart from each other.

"God Wynter, could you get any creepier?" Autumn asked, giving me a dirty look. Michael glared at me from behind her and then she took his hand and led him out the back door. I rolled my eyes and sat down in the middle of the floor with my blanket over my legs and my laptop in my lap. I put my ear phones in my ears and turned up full volume on AFI. I opened my laptop and stared at the almost completely blank document. I was supposed to be writing a paper on the artist that influenced me the most. I was going for Monet, but changed my mind and went for Michael Angelo, but then changed it again, only this time I didn't know who I was going to do it on.

Three songs later and still nothing done on the paper, I let out a frustrated sigh and slammed my laptop shut again. At this rate I was going to break the damn thing. It's not like my parents didn't have the money to buy me another one if I did. I turned off my music and just sat there, cuddled in my blanket.

How could my family be falling apart like this?

I wasn't one to fallow in my own self-pity, but I was feeling extremely shitty right now. I couldn't have a normal conversation with my mother, I couldn't stand to look at my father, I was being avoided by my sister, and the rest of my family wanted nothing to do with me. I had no friends to talk to about this, and the one person who did like me was dead.

I was feeling at my all time low.

Just as I was about to get up and go read that god forsaken magic book, something hit my foot. I looked down and saw a red ball. "Where the hell did this come from…" I muttered to myself, grabbing the ball and examining it. A scratching sound came from the corner of the basement. I turned and saw something moving around there. I shrugged and rolled the ball back into the shadows. A few second later the ball came back out to me. I smiled. Someone wanted to play. We rolled the ball back and forth for a few minutes and then a woman appeared in front of me. I stood up so that I could get a better look at her. It was Nora, the doctor's wife.

"What are you doing down here?" She asked. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Standing in her presence made me jealous and embarrassed. Jealous because of her unflawed beauty and embarrassed because I was wearing sweat pants, a black hoodie, and my hair was a mess.

"I was just…trying to find a place to do some school work." I said as the ball rolled back out of the darkness and hit my foot. I bent down to pick it up but Nora put her foot over my hand.

"Don't play with it." She said.

"_It_?" I turned to the corner of the room, trying to see past the darkness to actually get a look of what was there.

"My son. Though he's not my son anymore. Now he is a monster." She said, her voice breaking off here and there.

"How did you…how did you die, Nora?" I asked. She looked at me long and hard and then began pacing around the room.

"My husband and I ran an illegal abortion service. One of the girls' boyfriends found out and to get back at us he kidnapped my son. At the time my husband got the idea in his mind that he could fix anything. My son was returned in pieces. Charles thought that he could put him back together. He did, though it wasn't my son anymore. He had turned Thaddeus into a monster. I shot my husband in the head, and then I killed myself. The monster died in here. And then we couldn't leave." When she was done explaining she showed no sign of remorse. She gave me a little smirk and then disappeared into the darkness.

I was left standing there with the red ball in my hand and the lingering thought of just who the hell I was helping this mad house. Were they good or were they bad? The only one I could trust was Tate, maybe Moira.

I rolled the red ball back to the child in the darkness and it didn't come back out. I guess that means it was my time to leave.

I grabbed my things and made my way up the basement stairs back to civilization. I made my way into the kitchen and saw the black book lying on the kitchen table. I slanted my eyes and looked around. No one was in the kitchen. That I knew of. Someone put it there so that I would see it, and they knew that if I saw it I would be intrigued to finally know what was inside it.

Damn them.

I signed and put my blanket, laptop, and iPod on the counter and sat at the table, grabbed the book, and flipped to a random page. _'Black magic to call upon the demon of chaos. Yeah, no thanks. Next page. Oh, a spell on how to get a boy to notice you…and fall in love with you…and do absolutely anything for you… Sounds more like obsession to me. Yeah, next. Oh…what do we have here…' _Page, what would you know, 666, had something on spirits. **How to Free a Trapped Soul** was the title and under it was a bunch of history behind spirits being trapped in a place. I didn't need to know the history; I needed to know _how _to free them. I skimmed a few pages over and finally found what I was looking for, or what I hoped I was looking for.

**How to Free a Trapped Soul**

_Freeing a condemned soul from a house or building is never easy, but it can be done. Remember that nothing is impossible. You're in the world of darkness now, and anything can happen. Anything will happen._

_When you cast the freedom circle it will drain your energy once you say the Freedom Prayer. Depending on how many spirits you are freeing at the same time will depend on how much energy will be drained. The more energy you drain the weaker you become, and the weaker you become the longer it'll take you to get your strength back, and the longer it takes you to get your strength back the more time you'll have to wait to perform another circle. If needed, of course. Over the course of however many circles you cast you may become so weak that you won't be able to move for a course of days, and you may get progressively sick. Death is even a result of this powerful magic. You have been warned._

Yes, I have been warned, but do you honestly think that I care? Death would be a blessing right now; at least I wouldn't have to listen to all the screaming in the house. Then again, if I died in the house I would have to listen to the screaming still. Either way I couldn't win. But this wasn't about me winning, now was it?

I shook my head and turned the page.

_Now that you have a taste of what you're getting yourself in to—_

No actually, I have no idea what I've gotten myself in to…

_The question remains: Where do the spirits go once they are set free from which they are bound?_

_There are two possible answers; One, the spirit is welcomed into the glorious tranquility of Heave, or two, they are forever damned in eternal fire and suffering in Hell. You will not know the answer, your job here is done, their fate now lies in the hands of the Gods._

Well isn't that lovely?

_And of course, you are going to need to know how to free these bound spirits—_

No shit; that's the reason why I bought this damn book in the first place.

_You will need: five white candles, white chalk, salt, sage, red rose petals (enough to make a circle), incents (preferably rosemary scented), the Prayer of Protection written a few pages after this, and the Prayer of Freedom written after this as well._

_1. You must follow these instructions fully:  
2. Draw a white circle with the chalk (big enough for however many spirits you are freeing at the time; remember, the more you free the more energy you will lose) AROUND the spirit (s).  
3. Place the white candles around the circle (do not light them!).  
4. Place the rose petals around the candles.  
5. Sprinkle the salt around the rose petals.  
6. Tie the sage and incents together (enough to make a strong scent) and light them, go around the area in which you are performing the circle, go to all four corners of the room, once you are done with the cleansing, keep the bundle burning and place it at the peak of the circle.  
7. Light the candles  
8. Say the Prayer of Protection.  
9. Say the Freedom Prayer. _

I wondered if I could get all this stuff at that black magic store.

_Everyone's experiences during and after the circle is different. Don't be upset though, if nothing happens to you. Consider yourself a lucky one. Also, for the magic to be at its fullest, it is best to perform this circle at midnight, when the veil between the Light and Dark is the weakest._

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be one of the lucky ones.

**Prayer of Protection**

_O Brightness Light of Justice  
Guide and protect me  
I have and hold Divine Love  
I shall strengthen the hand of Justice  
And weaken the hand of Evil  
For the Good of all  
I wish it so_

**Prayer of Freedom**

_I free you from all that binds you here  
You're time is now over  
Be free and go into Next World  
Your soul is now free_

That was the end of the book. The very last page. I had got it. "Well I'll be damned." I mumbled. I looked up suddenly to see Violet standing in front of me, leaning over the table, resting her head in the hands. She was giving me a look like she wanted to slap me. I sighed. "Violet, I'm sorry I sent you away before." It pained me to apologize to her, but she was the only other person in this house close to my age, and I definitely wanted to stay on her good side.

"I'm sorry for agitating you." She said, standing up and coming around the stand beside me. I have to say, I wasn't expecting that.

"Do you like it here, Violet?" I asked, shutting the book and looking up at her.

"No. I hate it here. My parents…everyone in this house hates it here." She said looking down and away from me.

"What if I could help you?"

"What do you mean?' She raised her eyebrows at me.

"What if I could free you…all of you…from this house?" I opened the book again and held my finger on the pages that held importance to me.

"Don't bullshit me." She said shaking her head.

"I'm not. I'm not bullshitting you." I held the book up in her face and she eagerly took it. Her head moved side to side as she read the words printed on the paper. Every few seconds she would hold her breath and exhale again.

After a few minutes she held the book down from her face and looked at me with a stone expression. "Do you really think this will work?"

I shrugged, taking the book back and placing it open on the table. "I don't know." I stood up, getting more and more excited at the thought of actually doing this. "But I'm going to try. I mean, what do I have to lose? There's a lot to gain—there's a hell of a lot to gain! Violet, this could be it. This could be the ticket to all of your freedom. Do you and your family want to be the first ones I try?"

"Yes." Was all she said. That was all she needed to say. All of this was happening so fast. "If you can do this, Wynter…" She trailed off. My heart was pounding out of my chest. If I could do this… _If _I could do this, then that would mean freedom was at their fingertips. Violet smiled at me and I smiled back and nodded. I would go tomorrow and get the things I needed to perform the circle. I would conserve all the energy I had, and then in two days I would cast the circle and we would find out of this was really going to work.

And I hoped and prayed that it would work.

* * *

**A/N: Wooooo chapter seven~! Finally Wynter knows how to free the ghosts of the Murder House. Four more reviews and I'll post the next chapter! ^_^**

**Please review, it makes my day when I get feedback on this story! :D  
**


	8. Swing Life Away

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Eight: Swing Life Away**_

I woke up in a cold sweat again. That was the seventh nightmare tonight. I sighed and turned over to look at my clock. Ten in the morning, early enough to get up and reluctantly start the day. I turned back over on my back and stared at the white ceiling. I put my hands behind my head and just thought. I wondered if I could actually do this. If I could actually cast a circle, having absolutely no magic background. I'd never held a spell book until a few weeks ago when I bought the damn thing. I didn't even believe in magic until a year ago.

"Whatcha thinkin about?" Tate suddenly appeared beside me and I jumped. I gave him a small glare and then smiled.

"Just wondering if I can actually do this." I sighed.

"You can do anything." He said, moving closer to me.

I laughed and turned to him. "What makes you so sure?"

He moved his face closer to mine, his nose touching mine. "Because, you're you."

"I'm me?"

"And you can do anything." He kissed my nose and then pushed me out of the bed.

"My god, how many times are you going to do that?" I shouted from the floor.

"Well you needed to get up!"

"Doesn't mean every time I need to get up you have to push me out of the damn bed." I stood up and jumped back on the bed, then I pushed him backwards off.

"What was that for?" I leaned over the bed and smiled at his pouting face.

"For the many times you've pushed me off the bed." I smiled triumphantly.

He smirked at me and then grabbed my arm and pulled me on top of him. "I win." He whispered in my ear. I grunted and glared at him. He kissed me on the cheek several times and then on the lips. I scrunched up my face and got off of him. "Where are you going?" He asked sadly.

I turned to him and stuck my tongue out. "I gotta get ready and go get the things for the circle to hopefully get the ghosts out of here."

"When are you going to do it?" He asked, standing up and sitting on my piano bench. He played a few notes and then watched as I went through my closet to figure out what I was going to wear today.

"Tomorrow night." I answered, picking out a green long sleeved shirt with a grenade on it and a pair of dark wash jeans.

"Who's going first?"

"Violet and her family. I figured I would punish Hayden, Chad, and Moira since they've been bugging me so much. Everyone else has been so patient; why not let them go first. I mean, I understand why the three of them have been so antsy; it's just been so annoying. I actually thought that Violet hated me…" I trailed off and turned to him when he was being so quiet. His face was stone and chalk white. "What did I say?" I asked. And then I realized. "You like Violet…" I should have known. She was pretty, a lot prettier than I was.

"No, I don't like her." He said quickly.

"But you used to like her." I mumbled.

"Well," He got up and walked in front of me. "Yes, I used to like her. I…used to love her."

"Love?" My eyes grew wide.

"But she didn't love me. It was ten years ago, I'm over it now."

"Are you sure?" I looked up at him with hopeful eyes. He stayed quiet and nodded. I smiled slightly and hugged him. He hugged me back.

"I'll let you get dressed…" He said and then disappeared. How thoughtful of him to leave. I sighed as I held the air and then threw my clothes on my bed and took off my pajamas. After I was done getting dressed I grabbed my messenger bag and walked out of my room to the bathroom. In the hallway I bumped into Autumn. She stared at me for a few minutes, neither of us moving.

"Hey," Once I spoke she stepped aside from me and walked into her room and slammed the door shut. I exhaled a disappointed sigh and walked into the bathroom, mimicking her attitude and slamming the door shut. I stared at my hand for a few seconds, admiring the thick, shiny scar. Ever since that night at the lake with Tate I hadn't painted anything. Not even after my hand healed. I didn't have to drive to paint anything anymore. It saddened me, too. I didn't have any inspiration. That wasn't like me.

After I was done with my bathroom routine I headed down the stairs and bumped into young Moira. I felt like she was waiting for me. Creepy. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"Headed back to the magic store… I think I found something."

"That can free us?" She asked hopeful.

I rolled my eyes. "Well duh, what else would I be looking for in a magic book?" I asked sarcastically.

She ignored my sarcastic tone and said, "Just hurry back!" And then she disappeared, probably to tell Hayden and Chad about my findings. I wondered how pissed off they would be when I told them that I wasn't going to perform it on them first.

I smirked at myself and walked out the front door.

I rode with my head in the clouds to _Blake's Magic Shop_. When I got there I put my bike in the alleyway and walked in. Blake was behind the counter, talking on the phone with someone. He looked like he was in a very heated conversation with whoever was on the other line. When he saw that I had entered the shop though, he slammed the phone down on the receiver and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Didn't expect to see you back so soon." He said, walking from behind the counter, his arms still crossed over his chest. "Miss me?" He asked with a white toothed smirk. I shook my head and scanned the room for the things that I needed. I finally spotted the white candles in the back corner of the store. I walked past Blake to the table and grabbed five candles. I placed them on the checkout counter and went back for the incense that were placed beside the assortment of colored candles. I found the rest of the things I needed and waited at the counter patiently for Blake to come back. When he came back around and saw the things I had picked out he sighed.

"Problem?" I asked, pulling out my wad of cash and unrolling it.

"These things…you found what you were looking for?" He asked, snatching the candles and ringing them up.

"Like I said, problem?" I propped my elbows up on the counter and gave him a hard stare.

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself in to, Wynter." Once he said my name he froze. My eyes grew wide and my eyebrows rose. I could feel my pulse skyrocket.

"How did you know my name?"

He finally unfroze and held his head down. He continued to scan the things that I was buying and said, "I just do."

"Yeah Blake, sure. I'm sure you just know." I grabbed the bag and threw the money I owed on the table. I walked to the door and swung it open.

"Wait!" He shouted. I turned back to him. "Listen, I'm not a stalker or anything. I just know, okay? There are a lot of things that are hard to explain, I'm sure you know that. But Wynter, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm not sure about a lot of things, Blake. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I should do this."

"You shouldn't!" He snapped.

"But I am!" I snapped back.

"But why? Why are you risking all of this for _them_?" He asked in an exhausted tone, running his hands through his long, black hair.

I looked away from him. "Because…believe it or not, no matter how badly they piss me off and get on my nerves, they've become my family. A really weird, fucked up family. But a family none the less."

"There are more than twelve of them in that house, Wynter, do you know what could happen to you?" His voice was urgent, begging me to reconsider and just give it up.

"Yeah, I know what could happen to me, what probably will happen to me."

"And you still want to do this?"

"I don't have a second option."

"There is always a second option."

"Not for me." I said and then walked out of the store and quickly got on my bike and pedaled away before Blake could run out and patronize me some more. Why he was so concerned about me I had no idea, but it bothered me. He had no reason to care so much. He had no reason to care at all. So why did he?

I pondered everything that just happened as I rode back to my house. When I got there I saw someone sitting on the porch swing. When I reached the house I realized that it was Constance. I cursed under my breath and parked my bike. I put a fake smile on my face as I walked up the steps to the porch. She cocked her head to the side and tried to see through the black bag I was carrying. Feeling defensive, I swung the bag behind my back and smiled wider at the nosey and annoying woman. She glared at me slightly and stood up from the swing. She pulled a cigarette out of her purse and offered me one. "I don't smoke." I said.

"Smart girl." She mumbled and lit her drag. She inhaled deeply and then blew it out directly in my face. I waved the grey cancerous smoke away and backed up against the door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Just came to check up on you."

"You know you don't have to do that every day." I mumbled, fixing the heavy bag behind my back.

"Oh but your mother insists, just to make sure that you're okay."

"I'm always fine."

"She said you'd say that. I just have to make sure. She told me what happened last year." She said solemnly. I looked away from her and felt a lump form in my throat.

"Alright, well let's not talk about that, okay?" I croaked. She nodded and I opened the front door and walked through the threshold. "I'll see you later, Constance."

"Right…what's in the bag, Wynter?" She tried to see the back behind my back.

I shrugged. "Feminine products." I shut the front door and locked it. I watched as she walked off the porch and towards her house before I turned and got scared by old Moira in my face. "Fuck…" I breathed and stepped away from her and starting up the stairs.

"Did you get it all?" She asked and began following me. I stopped and she bumped into my back. When I turned to face her she was young Moira, the one I hated to talk to. The one that was so absurdly annoying.

"Yes, I got it all. But you won't be the first to leave. Or Hayden. Or Chad." I said. Her eyes grew wide and then Hayden and Chad appeared in front of me.

"Are you fucking serious?" Hayden shouted, grabbing my shoulders.

"Yes, I am _fucking_ serious." I gave her a hard look. "Tomorrow night I'm performing the first circle, and the Harmon's will be the first to leave."

"So you're punishing us?" Chad asked.

"Yeah, if you wanna look at it that way, I am punishing you. All three of you!"

"Why would you be so childish?" Old Moira asked.

I began laughed. "Me, childish? _Me_? _Childish_?" They gave me strange looks as I laughed more and more. Then I grew serious again. "Because you have all been loud, annoying, rude, pushy, and you've kept me up most of the night with your goddamn shouting!" I dropped the bag and threw my arms up in the air. Their eyes grew wide and they gave me hurtful looks.

"Wynter…" Moira mumbled, touching my shoulder as Hayden let go of me.

I picked up the bag and continued up the stairs. They didn't follow me this time. "I'll get you out of this house, but now you have nothing to yell at me about or argue over because I've found the solution. Just leave me alone now." I walked down the hall and into my bedroom. Tate was sitting on my bed, listening to my iPod. When I entered the room he perked up and yanked my ear buds out of his ears.

"Wynter, I have to talk to you." He said. I rose my eyebrows at him and set the bag down.

"What?"

"I was just listening to this song. This Time Imperfect by AFI, and I realized that it sounded a lot like you and I. Our situation…and the way I feel about you. Wynter, I love you." My eyes grew wide. "And…I don't want you to make me leave." He got up from the bed and stood in front of me. "I…want to stay here with you, until I'm the last one left, and then I will leave. But I want to spend as much time with you as I can before everything is over, okay?" He asked, gently placing his hands on my shoulders. I nodded, speechless, staring up at him. He hugged me and I hugged him back.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if I should tell him I love him back, because I didn't know if I would mean it.

I wish things were simple.

* * *

**A/N: Gotta say, I was overwhelmed by all the reviews for the last chapter. Haha. Thanks guys! I'm glad you like the story so far. :) Maybe another chapter before I go to bed, but if not there will be one tomorrow! Review for another chapter!**

**Please review and let me know what you think!  
**


	9. Into Another Dimension

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Nine: Into Another Dimension **_

I laid out all the things that I needed for the circle. Everything was accounted for, even some audience members; Moira, Hayden, Chad, Nora, and Charles. Tate was there too, he had helped me bring things down into the basement and said that he was going to stay, just in case something went wrong. I was hoping that nothing would go wrong. I went through all the possible scenarios in my head of what could go wrong; I could die, they could go to Hell, I could screw up and send them someplace else, or nothing could happen at all and I would look like a fool. Then I would have to kick Blake's ass.

"What time is it?" I asked as Violet appeared with her mother Vivien, her father Ben, and her baby brother, Jeffrey.

"Eleven-fifty-five." Ben answered. I nodded, grabbing the white chalk. We were in the basement, it was the 27th of October, and I was about to shock everyone, even myself.

"Alright, stand close beside each other. Tate, go make sure the door leading down to the basement is locked. Chad go make sure the door leading outside is locked. I'll draw the circle." I said. Tate nodded and rushed up the stairs to make sure that the door was locked and Chad pouted and slowly walked to make sure the outside door was locked. I got down on my knees and drew the circle around the family.

"What do you want us to do?" Young Moira asked.

"Stay out of my way." I didn't bother to look up at them as I spoke, but I knew they were giving me dirty looks. Moira, Chad, and Hayden were still pissed that I decided to not free them right away. Oh well. They would get over it. They would have to. "Okay, Nora, start handing me the candles." I reached my hand out and took the first candle. Once I had all five of them placed around the circle I grabbed the rose petals that I had already plucked off the stems early that day, with the help of Tate, and placed them one by one around the candles.

"Door's locked." Tate said as he came back down the stairs.

"So is the other one." Chad said as he returned.

"Need any help?" Tate asked, bending down in front of me.

I shook my head, placing the last petal down. "I'm the one performing the circle; it is me who has to set it up." I mentally sighed. I would _like_ some help, but I knew I shouldn't let him.

Once I was done sprinkling the sat around the petals I grabbed the sage and the rosemary incense tied together and lit them with my blue dolphin lighter. I went around the corners of the basement, waving the strong smelling bunch around like I was a Native American Medicine Woman. When I was done practically getting all of us high on these fumes (if ghosts could even get high), I placed the bundle at the front of the circle like the instructions had said.

"Wynter, it's twelve." Chad spoke. I nodded and lit the candles. I took in a deep breath and grabbed the black book I had set on the floor, already open to the page with the Prayer of Protection and the Freedom Prayer.

"Everyone ready?" I asked as my stomach started doing some extreme flip-flops. The Harmon's nodded and Violet smiled at me. "Okay." I took three deep breaths and then said the Prayer of Protection.

"_O Brightness Light of Justice  
Guide and protect me  
I have and hold Divine Love  
I shall strengthen the hand of Justice  
And weaken the hand of Evil  
For the Good of all  
I wish it so"_

My whole body started to tingle from my toes to my fingertips. I looked up wide eyed at the Harmon's and saw that they were glowing white. I looked down at myself and noticed that I was glowing white as well. Holy shit. It was working.

"Don't stop!" Chad hissed.

I gulped and nodded and then flipped the page to the Prayer of Freedom.

"_I free you from all that binds you here  
Your time is now over"_

I almost dropped the book because the candle flames flared up and formed a cage like circle around the Harmon's.

"Don't stop!" Violet shouted.

_"Be free and go into Next World  
Your soul is now free"_

When I said the last line the cage of fire disappeared, the candles blew out, and everything was silent. We all stared at each other in confusion. I was about to say something but then the candles lit with white fire, circling around the Harmon's and then shooting out at me. I screamed and was thrown back against the basement wall by the huge force.

I was in a white room; at least, I think it was a room. It was all white, nothing else was inside it. And then the white changed to the house, a bedroom, my bedroom. Only, my things weren't in it. Someone else was living here. I saw a girl lying on the bed and a pill bottle lying beside her. Then I saw her in the bathtub with Tate. He was crying as the water poured on both of them. But it was too late, Violet was already dead.

The scene changed to the living room, where everyone was gathered and a woman was screaming. Vivien was giving birth. The first baby out took one breath and then died. Vivien gave one final scream and then she was dead. Another baby was screaming, only this one didn't die. There was no other child in the house, so where the hell did that baby go once its family was dead? Probably to an adoption agency, I thought.

The last death I saw was Ben's. He was walking up the stairs with the baby who survived in a baby car seat when he was jumped by Hayden and that male-model-wanna-be, Travis. Ben struggled against them but he couldn't get free. Travis threw some rope over the chandelier hanging on the ceiling and then shoved Ben's head through the noose and pushed him off the railing. Ben's body jerked for a few seconds and then he was dead.

The colors mixed with each other and then I was back in that white room, though this time I wasn't alone. The Harmon's were there in front of me, smiling. Violet walked up to me and gave me an awkward hug. "Thank you, Wynter." She said, pulling away from me with a bright smile.

"So I actually did it?" I asked.

"Yeah, you did it. We just have to walk into the Light." Violet said, turning to her parents. They smiled at me and waved. I gave a meek smile and small wave back.

"So you're going to Heaven, then?"

Violet shrugged. "If Heaven's real, then that's where I assume we're going."

"Okay…okay…" Violet gave me another hug and then walked back to join her family.

"Thank you, Wynter." Vivien said.

"Thank you." Ben said.

"You're welcome." I mumbled as they began to fade away and I woke up feeling like I just dropped one thousand feet from an airplane and landed on the ground without a parachute. I gasped for breath and felt liquid coming out of my eyes. I tried it sit up but I didn't have the strength.

"Wynter, calm down. Don't move." I heard Tate say. I couldn't see anything clearly. "You're…crying blood. Hold on." Crying blood, what the hell? Is that even possible? I felt something move across my face and then I could see. Everyone was circled around me and my head was propped up on someone's lap. I saw Tate's face above mine, looking absolutely terrified.

"What…the hell happened?" I asked. Every word I spoke caused pain the shoot through my body.

"After the candles' flames turned white, the force shot at you and threw you back against the wall. I—we all thought that you were dead because we heard something crack… When you fell to the floor you left a dent in the wall and were still glowing white. You didn't get hurt, though. Which is kind of a miracle." Hayden said, bending down in front of me. I tried to scoot away from her but didn't have the strength to even blink my eyes.

I couldn't hold it against her, helping to kill Ben. That would make a hypocrite for forgiving Tate and for what I had done. She still freaked me out, though. I wondered where she was going to go once I freed her from the house…

"And you started crying blood." Young Moira added. I think we had already established that I had been crying blood.

"Wynter, what did you see?" Tate asked.

"I saw…I saw how the Harmon's died…and then I saw them moving into the Light. And then I woke up." I explained. It hurt a little less this time.

"How do you feel?" Chad asked.

"Like I went skydiving without a parachute." I rolled my eyes and tried to sit up. I just barely got my head off of Tate's lap when I was overwhelmed by dizziness and slouched back down. "The book said everyone's experience would be different, but it didn't say anything about how fucking horrible I would feel afterwards. I mean, it said I would be weak depending on how many spirits I moved on…but I didn't expect this. I can't do another one for a while." I mumbled. Everyone nodded in agreement, though I knew some of them wanted to say something, start arguing with me. Damn them if they did. "I need to eat something to get my strength back." I said, slowly sitting up. This time I didn't feel light headed or have the urge to fall back down.

"Okay, well let me help you." Tate said, standing up first and then slowly pulling me to my feet. I closed my eyes tightly as I tried to get my legs to stop shaking. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah…maybe…I don't know." I admitted as I took one step and almost fell. I would have smashed my face on the concrete if Tate hadn't of caught me. "Alright maybe not. But I gotta get out of here." It was then that I realized we were the only ones left in the basement, except for old Moira.

"I'll take her upstairs; her mother is home, Tate." Moira said, grabbing my forearm and leading me up the stairs. I looked back at Tate and saw that he had begun cleaning up the mess of a circle. The old maid led me into the kitchen and sat me down at the table. "Would you like a sandwich?" She asked.

"Two." I mumbled. I was abnormally hungry. She didn't question it; instead she nodded and went to work at fixing my food.

"Moira, would you mind—oh, Wynter, I haven't seen you in a few days." My mother said as she entered the kitchen. I was too tired to make a smart ass remark, so I just simply head nodded at her and waited for my sandwich. "Oh honey, are you getting sick? You look horrible." Thanks, mom. Always nice to know I look like shit. "Anyway, Moira, I'm going out so don't bother fixing me anything for dinner. Autumn is up in her room. I doubt she's going to be home long enough to eat, though." The woman muttered and then left the kitchen. I sighed but perked up when Moira placed a plate of two sandwiches in front of me. I mumbled a thank you and quickly scarffed them down.

"Thanks Moira, I'm going to go to bed now." I got up from the table, feeling some of my strength come back to me. I could stand without feeling like I was going to pass out, so I figured that I could make it up the stairs by myself.

"See you tomorrow, Wynter." The old woman said, taking my plate and cleaning it off. I began to walk away when she said, "Oh, and Wynter,"

"Yes?"

"Good job tonight." She didn't turn to look at me but I could tell that by her tone she was smiling. At least someone was proud of me. I turned and walked away. When I came to the stairs I sighed. They looked a thousand miles high. Maybe I _wouldn't_ be able to make it up alone…

"Need some help?" Tate appeared beside me and grabbed my arm.

"If you don't mind." I said tiredly.

"I never mind." He smiled and then began to slowly lead me up the stairs. Once we made it to the top we ran into my sister. She stared at the two of us longer than I would have liked.

"What happened to you?" She finally talked to me for the first time in almost a month.

"I-uh-fell." I smiled sheepishly at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, stupid." She mumbled and then pushed past Tate and I and ran down the stairs. I sighed as Tate led me to my room and sat me down on my bed. He went to close the door and then returned to sit beside me.

"You're not stupid." He mumbled, moving some tangled hair behind my ear.

I laughed and smiled. "Hey, those were the first words she's spoken to me in a long time. I'm thankful even if it was an insult." I was quiet for a few seconds and then asked, "Where did you put all the stuff?"

"In your closet." He said simply. Then he got up and threw some pajamas beside me. I laughed at his choice and though that he was such a guy; short shorts and a tank-top.

"I'm flattered, but I would rather wear my sweats." His face fell and then he threw my black sweat pants and grey sweat shirt on my face. I laughed and stood up to change but fell back down. Oh, this was embarrassing. This was extremely embarrassing. "Tate…I don't think I can…um…" Oh _god_.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You don't have enough strength to change your own clothes, do you?" He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at me. I refrained from nodding my head and just coughed. "Want me to do it?" He whispered in my ear. I didn't shake my head and I didn't nod, but he took it anyway as 'yes, go ahead and do it' because he pulled my shirt up off my head and put the sweater on. I could feel my face growing hot as he reached for my pants.

"No!" I hissed. "I can…do it." I undid my pants and used all the strength I had to pull them off. I could barely pull my sweats on without feeling like I was going to pass out.

"Just let me help you." He whispered, pulling my pajamas the rest of the way up. "Why's your face so red?" He smirked.

"Ass hole." I mumbled and lay down in the bed. He smiled cockily and lay down beside me, pulling the blankets over us both.

"Let's just sleep." He kissed me on the cheek and wrapped his arms around me. I didn't have a problem with that. I felt like I could sleep for a million years, easily.

* * *

**A/N: It was having a pretty bad day, but writing this has put me in a better mood. :) I hope you guys liked this chapter!**

**Please review and let me know what you think! Review for the next chapter!  
**


	10. Let's Take a Break

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Ten: Let's Take a Break**_

The next few days went by slow, slow, slow, and did I mention slow? I never knew time could move so slowly, but I guess it was a given when you spent your entire days in bed reading, watching Ghost Adventures with Tate (which he commented that almostly all of it was fake) and eating three bowls of soup a day. My mother didn't bother to check on me once, but my sister sent me some texts to see if I was still alive. I thought that was considerate of her…in a way. Hayden and Chad left me alone for the most part, aside for a little arguing with me here and there (but Tate got that over with quick).

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. I had just gotten out of the shower and was now braiding my hair to keep it from frizzing out and making me look like I had an afro. In the four days that I had been bed-bound, my face had sunken in slightly. Other people couldn't notice, but I sure could. I had lost ten pounds maybe, on a diet of nothing but soup.

As I exited the bathroom I ran into Autumn, who had my box of stage make-up under her arm. When she saw me her facial expression turned to that of a little kid getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I raised my eyebrows at her and put my hands on my hips. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged. "I'm using your make-up for my costume tonight." She walked past me and to her room.

"Um, did you ask?" I asked smartly.

"No, but it's not like it matters. Oh, by the way, your boyfriend is in your room. Did he spend the night? If he did, good for you. Finally getting some action." She said with a devious smirk and then slammed her bedroom door shut, leaving me out in the hallway with my mouth hanging open. I did _not_ just get a sex lecture from my sister. My _little _sister at that.

Ugh.

I shuttered and went back into my bedroom, where Tate was sitting on my bed, reading the black magic book. "Oh, your sister came in here." He mumbled, not looking up from the book.

"Yeah, thanks for letting her take my make-up." I grumbled, going through my closet for a sweater to throw over my white tank-top. And then realization hit me. "Tate, today is Halloween." I said, turning to him while putting my dark blue sweater over my arms.

"Very good. Do you want a cookie?" He asked sarcastically. I frowned at him, picked up the heaviest book on my shelf, and chucked it at his head. He dodged his head out of the way, but he was too slow and the book hit him snack in the forehead anyway. "Ow, what the hell!" He shouted. "Why did you do that?" He asked, throwing the magic book at me. I caught it in my hands and placed it under some papers on my desk, then crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a hard look.

"Why are you being such a douche-bag today?" I continued to glare at him as he got up from the bed and stood in front of me.

"Sorry… I just want to do something. I've been in the house for almost a week." He placed his hands on my shoulders, giving me a smile, but my frown didn't subside.

"Well I didn't ask you to stay with me while I felt like shit. So sorry I was trying to help the poor souls get unbound from this damned house." His smile turned down into a frown and he furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"I didn't mean it like that." He mumbled, keeping his hands on my shoulders.

"Sure felt like it did." I said, shaking his hands off of my shoulders, only for him to place them on my hips. I felt my lips twitch slightly but I wouldn't let a smile form.

"I'm sorry…it's just—it's Halloween, I can leave the house. I mean, _really_ leave the house. Go anywhere and stay out all night until the sun comes up." He said almost in a begging tone. I nodded and removed his hands from my waist. "Where are you going?" He asked as I slipped on my black flats and put a large wad of money in my pocket.

"You wanna leave, so let's leave. You said you can go anywhere, so let's go out. Stay out all day. Maybe crash some parties. Let's find some last minute costumes and have fun. Maybe see a movie while we're at it. Hell, we can even go out to dinner." I said, grabbing his hand and leading him to my bedroom door. He halted me and I turned back to him. "What?" His face was down.

"You…you don't think anyone will recognize me? From…you know…" He trailed off, looking up at me with sad eyes.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Tate, that was a long time ago. I mean, a _really _long time ago. The chances of anyone recognizing you are slim to none. You'll be fine." I smiled warmly at him. "Now let's go have some fun." He grinned widely, nodded at me and then squeezed my hand as we ran down the stairs and out the front door before anyone, namely Moira, Chad, or Hayden could stop us.

No one was going to ruin our day of fun.

We walked down the sidewalk, one ear bud in each of our ears as we listened to the random music that played on my iPod. Our hands brushed against each others before Tate finally gave in and grabbed my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine and holding on tightly. I could feel myself turn a bright red, which earned a smirk from the boy walking beside me and a peck on the cheek. The people who walked beside us or saw us from across the street smiled as we walked by. I'm sure that just made me blush even more.

We walked for about maybe an hour until my stomach started growling. I yanked my ear bud out and paused the music. "What's wrong?" Tate asked, pulling out his ear bud as well and halting us.

"I, um, know that this isn't a problem for you, but I'm gonna pass out if I don't eat something." I said, suddenly feeling light headed. Whenever I got hungry I either got ill (mean) or lightheaded. I never knew which one. It was kind of scary when you think about it. I just thought of it as a pain in my ass. Tate nodded understandingly and pulled me to the nearest restaurant, which was an Italian one. Perfect. I loved Italian.

"Table for two?" The man at the podium asked with a bright smile. I nodded. He grabbed two menus and led us through the restaurant towards the back. Tate and I sat in a small booth. The red leather was fake but it was comfortable. "Your waiter will be here in a moment to take your orders." The older man said and then left. I began flipping through the magazine while Tate just sat there, his hands in his lap, his eyes fixated on me as I desperately searched for something to eat.

After ten minutes, I finally found what I was going to order; Parmesan chicken with a small Caesar salad and some garlic bread. "Tate, if you don't order something then I'm going to feel like a fat-ass." I mumbled, folding my menu back into a long rectangle.

"You're not fat. And, you know I don't eat." He said.

"Well have you ever tried?"

He pondered the question for a few seconds and then shrugged. "I never had the desire to try. Hunger doesn't affect us like it does the living."

"Well you should try. You never know what you're missing. Plus, you're human today…you should eat."

"Technically I'm _not _human…just appear more human." He corrected.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Today may be the only day for you to eat something. So. Eat." A young man approached the table, pen and notepad in hand, ready to take our orders.

"Hello, my name is Antonio; I'll be your waiter today. What can I get you to drink?" He asked.

"Strawberry lemonade for me." I said and then shot a glare at Tate.

The blonde boy sighed and then said, "Yeah, I'll have a coke."

"And to eat?" Antonio asked, scribbling down what we had just ordered.

"Parmesan chicken with a small side Caesar salad and garlic breadstick."

"What she said." Tate mumbled. Antonio nodded and then left the table. I swear I could have heard him smacking his gum. "Now I feel bad." He said, leaning back against the booth seat.

"Why?" I asked with a slight laugh.

"Because you're the one with the money…and I'm the guy. I'm supposed to be paying for the food."

I waved my hand at him. "Oh, don't be so formal. Anyway, it's not my money, it's my mom's. So in a way, she's the one paying for the meal, not me." Tate shrugged and then the waiter brought our drinks. He mumbled 'Your food will be ready soon.' And then walked away again. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'll give you the wad of cash and you can pay." I leaned over the table and smirked at him.

"That would make me feel better." He said in a small voice and leaned over the table, kissing me on the lips softly. I smiled and reached into my pocket, pulling out the money and handing it over to him.

After breakfast-lunch-whatever this was, Tate paid and we left. He ate all of his food and even the rest of mine. It didn't bother me; he looked like a little kid at Christmas time.

We walked down the street for a few minutes, working off our meal, and then ran into a Halloween store.

We entered the store, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like a kid again. Tate and I tried on just about every mask in the store. It was the most fun we've had together. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Finally, after three hours of fun, we decided upon our costumes; a female (non-slutty; yeah, amazing that I found a costume that wasn't slutty for girls) version of the Joker and Tate got Scar Face. And odd couple, but then again, _we_ were an odd couple.

We bought our costumes and put them on in the store. The Joker outfit was a dress; the bottom was a deep purple and ripped into jagged edges at the end, and the top was a dark green in a vest form with a black and white checkered tie that had red on it for blood splatters. It came with a deep purple overcoat and black gloves. In addition to the outfit I bought some fishnet stockings and a green choppy wig. I wore my black flats and bought some black, red and white face paint. I must say, the face make-up looked really good when I got done with it.

Tate's costume was simple; a black suit. He already had the blonde hair. The scar that the costume came with looked really good after I got done with it. His black converse looked better with the suit than the dress shoes would have.

A lot of people gave us some weird looks as we walked past them in our new outfits, but it's not like we cared. It was Halloween, it was the time to have fun.

A buzz from my right breast suddenly drew my attention away from the boy next to me. I pulled my phone out from my bra (yes, it was in my bra; it's not like this dress had pockets) and saw that it was my mother. I mentally sighed and answered the call.

Before I could get a hello in, my mother's voice sounded. "Wynter where the hell are you?" She sounded annoyed.

"Um, out with a friend." I answered in a similarly annoyed tone.

"Where is your sister?"

"Why should I know?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were going out?"

"It's not like you would have cared anyway, mom." I sighed as Tate and I sat on a bench in the middle of the graveyard themed park.

"It still would have been nice to know, Wynter. I am your mother after all." _It's not like you act like it. _I thought. "Anyway, what time are you going to be home? It's Halloween; I don't want you out late. There's no telling what could happen."

"Yeah, okay mom. Bye." I hung up before she could say anything else and turned my phone off. I handed it to Tate and said, "Put this in your pocket. I won't need it for the rest of the night." He gladly took the communication device from me and slipped it in his pocket.

"What do you want to do now?" Tate asked. The sun was going down and we were beginning to see more and more people in costumes. While looking around, trying to find something to do, I caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Blake. He was standing a few feet away from us with some other guys. His eyes locked with mine, and then he looked at Tate. I quickly looked away from the strange boy and grabbed Tate's hand. I pulled him up from the bench and began fast-walking out of the park. "Where are we going?" He asked as we ran down the sidewalk. I turned to look behind us and didn't catch sight of Blake so I slowed us to a walk.

"Let's…go see a horror movie." Even thought I couldn't see Blake, I got the feeling that he was looking at us from somewhere. I just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

We arrived back at my (technically isn't it _our_) house at maybe three in the morning. I was exhausted, but of course Tate didn't even show signs of being tired. Tate had to practically drag me up the stairs because my legs hurt so badly from walking so much. He laid me down on my bed and it hadn't dawned upon me that he was taking my clothes off. Hell, I didn't even realize what was going on until he was kissing me. And I was completely naked.

Everything after that happened so fast, honestly, I don't even know _how _it happened. One minute we were kissing, and then the next… But I'm not saying I regret it.

* * *

**A/N: Allllriiiiiight. Sorry for not posting in a few days. I was gone all weekend and I was honestly having trouble deciding how to end this chapter. I mean, I **_**knew **_**that I wanted it to end with…that, I just needed to find a way to write it without getting into…detail. Uhum. Anyway. I think I accomplished that. Haha…**

**And holy crap, can I just say that you guys astonish me? Like seriously, you guys have been awesome, anticipating the next chapter! ^_^ I hope this was worth the wait. The next chapter will be up sometime today or tomorrow. Probably today, though. Haha. I'm home from school so I've got a lot of time to write.**

**Alright, review for the next chapter! Let me know what you think. Hope this was worth the wait! :) **


	11. What Lies Beneath

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Eleven: What Lies Beneath **_

He was a doctor. A delusional doctor. He had completely lost his mind when their son went missing and was brought back to them dead. He thought that he could piece him back together, but instead of creating their child, he created a monster. She left the new creature in the basement to die, shot her husband, and then shot herself. It was a murder suicide. It was grim. All she wanted was her baby, but she wasn't fit to be a mother. And then that child that was in the attic, he wasn't related to them, but I passed him on with them. He was killed by that man, Larry I think his name was, the man with half of his body burned due to Tate's tempter and psychotic ways.

I didn't know where Nora was going once she passed over, but I knew that Charles and the baby were going into the Light. Even Beau, he was going into the Light. That poor boy.

This time when I passed a family over it didn't hurt as bad. When I woke back up I was crying blood again, but I could move more than I could the first time. Maybe I was just getting used to it.

After I passed on the Montgomery's and Beau, I went upstairs to fix myself a sandwich (only one this time) while Tate put all of the supplies back in my room. I was softly humming to myself when I felt someone staring at me from behind. I turned slowly and jumped when I saw that crazy red head Hayden baring her eyes into my skull.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I mumbled, slapping some strawberry jam on one slice of bread and crunchy peanut butter on the other slice. I smushed the two pieces of loaded bread together and bit into it. Yum. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches always reminded me of the days when things in my life made since and I didn't have to worry about anything.

"He's keeping things from you." The young woman mumbled, walking up to me.

"Who's he and what's he hiding?" I asked with as little interest as I could.

"You know who."

"If I knew who then I wouldn't be asking you." I sighed, putting the jam back in the fridge and the peanut butter back in the cabinet.

"He's his father!" Hayden suddenly shouted after three minutes of me not paying attention to her. I raised my eyebrows at her and walked to the table in the middle of the kitchen and sat down. I continued to eat my meal, looking uninterested in what Hayden was blabbering about, which pissed her off because it looked like she was about to pop a vein in her forehead. "She's his mother!"

"Hayden, you're making no since at all. Speak real sentences or go away." I mumbled, stuffing the rest of the sandwich in my mouth and getting up to grab some milk from the fridge.

"That crazy bitch Constance, that's Tate's mother." She sneered. I froze, dropping the carton of milk from my hand and causing it to spill out on the floor. She smirked at me. Guess she got the reaction she wanted. "Constance is Michael's _grandmother _too. Wanna know who his father is?" She asked, moving closer to me. She was backing me in a corner here. I felt like a defenseless, small animal. Because to her that's all I was.

"I d-don't believe you." I whispered.

"Oh really? Tell me; haven't you wondered why Michael looks strangely like Tate? That's because that's his son…and Vivien was his mother." Hayden said in a baby voice. Oh. I felt like I was going to be sick. I quickly turned from her and upchucked what was my delicious sandwich into the sink and wished that I had never eaten it in the first place.

"H-Hayden, shut up." I wiped my face with the hem of my shirt and turned away from her.

"He fucked the Harmon woman!" She screamed insanely. "Violet was his first, bet you didn't know that, either." Well we never really talked about our sex lives with each other. "He loved her, probably still does, probably loves her more than he'll ever love you." She said matter-of-factly and crossed her arms over her chest. I felt like I was going to be sick again. I turned to the sink but nothing came up.

"Why…why are you telling me this?" I asked while trying to cough up the huge lump that was stuck in my throat.

She glared at me. "Because," She bent down in front of me and flicked some hair from my face. "If I can't be happy, then you can't be happy." Just then we heard someone walk into the kitchen and turned our attention to see that it was none other than the blonde boy himself. I felt a surge of anger spark within me, and before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed the glass cup that I had set out for my milk and threw it at his head. He dodged out of the way and looked at me like a puppy I had just thrown out into a cold winter storm. Hayden smiled in triumph and moved away from me to the other side of the kitchen. She stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk that I wanted to punch off her face.

"Why do you keep throwing things at my head?" Tate yelped in surprise and stepped towards me. I held my arms out to stop him and he continued to look at me like a betrayed puppy.

"What was my one rule? What was the only thing I made you promise me!" I shouted. More bile came up my throat. I swallowed it back down and gave Tate a hard look as his eyes shifted from me to the ever delighted Hayden in the corner.

"To not lie to you." He said quietly. He looked away from me, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. I felt tears forming in my eyes but quickly wiped them away with the back of my hand before they had the chance to fall. Now was not the time to cry.

"Well do you have anything to tell me?" Before I could let him answer I screamed, "_You fucked Vivien_! Michael…is your _son_! I can't…why…how… And Constance is your _mother_! I—when I asked you about them…and you said you didn't know… He's your _son _Tate! Your fucking _son_." He backed up with every word I spewed at him like they were ice crystals piercing his skin. He looked like he was about to cry, but the one thing that added to my already pissed mood was that he didn't even look sorry. Yeah, he looked like he was going to cry, but he didn't look sorry. "Fuck! How could I not have known?" _Because I was blinded by my feelings for him. _"You two look alike. All three of you look alike." _Just another fucked up family. _"Damn it!" I screamed, grabbing my plate from the table and throwing it at the wall. The shards scattered everywhere but I didn't care. "I told you not to lie. I hate liars! Fuck!" I started to run from the kitchen but his hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Wynter—"

"Fuck you!" I wailed, yanking my wrist from him and ran out the front door. I couldn't stay in this house with him or any of them right now. I needed to get away. I let my legs carry me until they felt like they were going to explode from the fiery pain coursing through them. When I stopped I realized that I was at the lake Tate had brought me to the second day I was at the house.

My face was wet with tears now and it caused my hair to become matted with my face. My body was trembling. I was too pissed to think straight. I screamed out. I just screamed and screamed and screamed until I felt that my throat had gone raw. I fell to my knees and cried. There was nothing else I could do. I cried until I couldn't produce anymore tears and then I curled up into a tight ball on the ground and squeezed my eyes shut. I fell asleep, and in my dreams, liars didn't exist.

Somehow, and I didn't know how, I woke up the next morning in my bed. I was hoping Tate didn't carry me back to the house; I didn't want him near me. I didn't want him to touch me. I didn't know what I was going to do about the whole situation. It all hit me at once, the person I'm closest with and _loved_ had been lying to me the whole time.

What the hell did he gain from all the lies he told me? If he had of just told me the truth…I don't know how I would have reacted to the truth, but I know I wouldn't have acted like I did yesterday.

The only thing I knew for sure was that, despite everything, I didn't hate him.

I groggily got out of my bed once my growling stomach wouldn't shut up. I made my way down stairs with no sign of Tate or Hayden or any of them. At the end of the stairs I saw two suitcases waiting patiently for whoever was leaving. My mom walked in from the kitchen and stared at me while she hooked in one of her earrings.

"Were you going to tell me that you were leaving, or were you going to have Moira do it for you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

My mom rolled her eyes and grabbed her keys from the small table by the door. "Wynter, I don't have time for this; I'm going to miss my flight. Where's your sister?"

"Right, you don't have time to talk to your daughter, whom you haven't talked to in almost two weeks." I stepped off the stairs, slightly kicking her luggage with my foot. "And I don't know where your favorite is." I said casually.

"Wynter, please. Don't act like such a child. I'll be back in two weeks." She said, picked up her suitcases and then walked out the door without another word.

"Love you too, mom." I mumbled and then turned and walked into the kitchen. I hadn't heard anything from my father in a few weeks, either. I don't even think he's been home… No wonder everything's been quiet between them.

When I entered the kitchen I saw a way too familiar face sitting at the table. Constance. She was sipping on something hot and I had a day-dream of me pouring it all over her face and watching as it boiled her skin. Okay. Too morbid. But I didn't like the woman; she gave me the creeps, and she was also Tate's mom, which made every feeling I had towards her a thousand times worse.

"Good morning, Wynter." She said, placing her cup down on the table and lighting a cigarette. I was actually dumbfounded that she hadn't died from lung cancer yet. Or that her skin wasn't baggy and practically falling off her face. "My, you look horrible. Are you sick, dear?" She asked as I walked over to Moira, gave her a look that said 'I-know-you-knew-you-bitch' and grabbed a bowl from the counter.

"I think I'm coming down with something." I said to Constance, not looking at her. I poured some Frosted Flakes into the bowl and went to grab the milk but then realized we didn't have anymore; I wasted it yesterday when I had my little tantrum. I mentally scolded myself and poured the cereal back in the box and grabbed a box of Cheese It's from the cabinet.

"Well it's no wonder; Cheese It's for breakfast? Not exactly a meal to start the day." Constance tisked. I gave her an 'I-don't-give-a-shit' smile and then walked back out of the kitchen and up the stairs. When I entered my room I threw the box of cheese crackers on the floor. I had lost my appetite. I walked over to my piano and plopped down on the bench. I stroked a few keys and then banged my head down on them.

What was I going to do?

"Hey…" I didn't look up to see who was beside me, because I already knew the voice. Tate. I hadn't spoken or seen him since I blew up at him yesterday afternoon. We needed to talk, but I didn't know if I could do it without breaking down in tears. And I certainly didn't want to cry anymore. "Do you…hate me?" He asked softly.

I laughed slightly and smiled, my head still down on the piano keys. "No, surprisingly, I don't hate you."

"Really?" I could hear the amazement in his voice. I looked up at him, moving my hair out of my face. His eyes were red from crying. His face was pale. Paler than normal. This time, he actually looked like he was sorry.

"Believe it or not, Tate, I don't hate you. I don't care what anyone says, you can't hate someone you love." My voice was hoarse. The water works were about to turn on.

"I'm sorry…I lied to you. I—I didn't know how I was supposed to tell you. How do you just come out and say that you have a son and your mom is the crazy woman who comes over here all the time?"

"I don't know, just come right out and say it? The outcome would have been better…" I trailed off, closing the key cover on my piano and propping my elbow up on it and resting my head in my palm. Tate continued to look me in the eyes, probably waiting for me to yell at him again. I wasn't going to yell this time.

"I know…and I'm sorry." He scooted closer to me and I made no attempt to move forward or back. "I…I really am sorry." Tears started falling down his cheeks. He lifted up a hand and brushed some hair from my face. "I love you."

"Don't lie to me again." I whispered.

"I won't." He got closer.

"Or so help me god I will castrate you. Don't think I won't." I said with a glare. He smiled at me and then pressed his lips against mine. He muttered an 'I promise.' Against my lips and then kissed me again.

Tate was a manipulator; I knew that for a fact; I wasn't stupid. He manipulated me to love him and he manipulated me to believe him. There was a part of me that hated him for it, but there was also a part of me that didn't care at all.

I loved him, I knew that. He knew that. And I _knew_ that nothing could change it.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this wasn't up last night. I wasn't feeling well and went to bed. But, here you go! :D I hope you liked this chapter. A new one will be posted within the next few days. Actually, only a few more chapters left and this story will be over. I'll be sad to not write it anymore.**

**Oh, and I know the last few chapters have been short. :/ Sorry about that. I've been trying to make them longer...eh.  
**

**Review for the next chapter! :)  
**


	12. Perfect Family

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Twelve: Perfect Family**_

If I hadn't been for the annoying screaming of a woman, I'm sure that I could have slept all day. I was actually surprised that Hayden wasn't the one having a fit this time; it was my mother. I didn't even realize that she had gotten back so soon. Well, I mean, it wasn't _too_ soon because she was due back any day now; she had been gone for two weeks. I wondered what exactly it was that she was doing when she left. I didn't know that lawyers traveled so much. I didn't even know they traveled at all. I enjoyed her being gone, needless to say, because the house was quiet, for the most part.

I turned over from Tate, who stubbornly kept his arms around me, and looked at my clock.

Ugh.

Seven in the morning.

What the hell could my mother be yelling about at seven in the morning?

Curiosity got the better of me and I yanked the blankets off of both of our bodies and tried to get up. Tate kept me in place and I sighed. "Stay." He mumbled and nuzzled his face in my hair.

"I gotta go see what she's screaming about." I said tiredly and tried to pry myself from his arms, but of course with no prevail. "Tate…" I wined, turning back over to face him and give him a hard look. He laughed at me and then pulled the covers back on top of us, obviously telling me that I wasn't going anywhere.

"It's none of your business; just leave it alone." He signed and kissed me on the lips. I decided that maybe he was right, and when things were getting heated my mom screamed for me to come down stairs.

"Now it's my business." Tate groaned and pulled away from me, allowing me to get out of the bed. I pulled a long T-shirt over my body and walked to the door. "I'll be right back." I looked back at him and saw that he was pouting. I shook my head with a smile and walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door back behind me. Ever since his lies surfaced a few weeks ago, he's become clingy. Not that I minded it, in fact, I thought it was cute, but odd. Maybe it was his way of saying sorry.

"You no good piece of shit!" I heard my mother shout as I ran down the stairs and stopped halfway to see her throwing some men clothes and shoes out the front door. "You goddamn swine!" Really mom? Swine, of all things? "Let's see how you feel about this!" This time it was my father's laptop she threw out the door. The loud crash made me jump and wish that I was somewhere else right now. That laptop was my father's life. It had all of his work documents on it, and now it was in chunks outside.

"Dani, you stupid bitch!" My father shouted, finally coming out of the living room. He got in my mother's face and held her shoulders tightly. He looked beyond pissed. I would too if she smashed my pride and joy.

She smirked up at the man. "What are you going to do, Greg, hit me? In front of your daughter?" My dad looked from her to me and then let go of her shoulders. He walked to the door and then turned back to us. He gave me a sad look and then picked up the duffle bags that were already placed on the porch.

"She's your daughter, too, Dani. Maybe you should start acting like a mother. Crazy bitch." He said and then my mom slammed the front door shut and turned to me with a psychotic look in her eyes. Truthfully, I thought she was about to kill me. But then I remembered that I had nothing to worry about because there was a ghost upstairs that could kill her. Not saying that I wanted her dead or anything…especially not dead and stuck in this house.

"What exactly did you call me down here for, mom?" I asked, not bothering to go down the rest of the stairs. If she was going to hit someone, it wasn't going to be me.

"Where the hell is your sister?" The calmness in her voice was scarier than if she were actually yelling. I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Mom, how many times are you going to ask me where Autumn is before you realize that _I have no idea_?"

"Don't get smart with me!" She began raising her voice and the crazy look in her eyes multiplied times ten.

"I'm not getting smart with you."

"Why's dad's laptop smashed on the porch? And why did he have bags of clothes with him?" Suddenly Autumn appeared in the now open doorway. She looked confused and scared. I wished that she had just stayed where ever she was. More than likely she was with Michael. This time I wanted her to stay there.

"I got rid of the problem." My mom said, turning to Autumn. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Out." She answered with a glare.

"_Where_?" The woman asked, stepping in front of the thirteen year old and pushing her back.

"That's none of your business." The blonde teenager replied and pushed her back. I continued to stay on the stairs. Maybe I was frozen in fear, or maybe I just wanted to watch to see what was going to happen. Either way, I wasn't going to prevent anything. And that made me a horrible person.

"I'm tired of you always being out! You never spend time with your family."

Autumn laughed and rolled her eyes. "Says the woman who makes it her _job_ to never be home."

"I'm trying to provide for this family!"

"No mom," Autumn shouted, her voice matching my mom's. "You're tearing this family apart." I sucked in a breath as my mom's palm collided with Autumn's check, causing a loud pop to echo through the house. Autumn stood there like a stone. She didn't cry. She didn't scream in pain.

"You have another family you like so much, go spend Thanksgiving with them." The woman said darkly. Autumn looked at me, waiting for me to say something. I couldn't think of anything to say, and for that, I am just as horrible as my mom. Autumn laughed at my silence and then shoved the woman away from her and turned to the door, opened it, and walked out. "And don't come back, bitch!" My mother shouted and then slammed the door shut and locked it this time. Her perfect little angel wasn't so perfect anymore.

I tried to hide my tears as feeling finally came back to my limbs. "Why did you do that?" I asked, stepping down the rest of the stairs and standing in front of her. "Mom, _you're_ the problem in this family. You're the one who needs to leave. Not dad. Not Autumn." The calmness in my voice shocked even me.

"We were never a family, Wynter." She said coolly and grabbed her keys from the small table sitting beside the door. "We're all miserable." She opened the front door and stood there for a few seconds, staring at the floor. "Happy Thanksgiving." She said and then slammed the front door shut, rattling the pictures on the walls.

I was left standing there alone. Numb. My palms began to sweat and I felt my heartbeat become erratic. I felt like I was having a heart attack. I turned and ran up the stairs and into the bathroom. I didn't slam the door shut because I didn't want to draw any attention. I stood there in the darkness, staring at the back outline of my reflection in the large glass mirror.

I tried to understand when my father became such a mute pushover, when my mother became a psychotic control freak, when my sister became a distant whore, and when I became a supernatural freak. Everything pointed to when I killed my best friend. When I killed Arielle. My family was never perfect to begin with, but everything started spiraling out of control when Arielle died.

"Everything's your fault." I whispered darkly, trying to not choke on my tears. "Everything…you fucked everything up." I clenched my fist into a tight ball, and then without thinking, I smashed my fist into the mirror, causing it to break and shards to fall around me. I felt blood start to fall over my fingers. My knuckles stung. There I go again, hurting myself with glass. "Stupid." I muttered and search around for a large piece of the glass around the sink. "You're the problem." I held the glass up to my throat and laughed. "So get rid of the problem." I took a deep breath and pressed the glass against my throat. The sharp, jagged edge pierced my skin slightly. With one swift move I cut slit my throat and everything would be over. "So get rid of the problem…" I closed my eyes and prepared to glide the glass from one end of my throat to the next.

"Don't." A voice said behind me. Someone grabbed the glass and threw it on the floor and then wrapped their arms around me from behind. "Wynter, don't." He whispered in my ear and held me tightly.

I didn't know if I was going to kill myself just then, but I'm glad Tate stopped me from doing whatever it is that I was going to do.

**-X-**

"The world's just a shit place. Filled with shit people who are better off dead. I'm dead, and I love it. If everyone died they wouldn't have to live in this filthy goddamn world anyone. If I could just kill everyone they would be happy." Tate said as we sat on my bedroom floor, listening to music and playing _The Nightmare Before Christmas _Monopoly. And I must say, I was kicking his ass; Monopoly was my favorite game, and I always won.

"What made you hate the world so much?" I asked, rolling the die and moving twelve spaces. _Shit! _I thought, my thumbtack landing on the jail space. I angrily scratched at my knuckles that were now wrapped. I hadn't cut them too deep, but they still hurt.

"Everyone… Don't you hate the world?" He asked, not bothering to roll on his turn and laying back on his elbows.

I shrugged and leaned back on my bed. "In a way…yeah, I do." I answered truthfully.

"Were you going to kill yourself in the bathroom?" Hayden asked, appearing in front of me. I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. I was enjoying my time _away _from everyone else. But of course she had to ruin that.

"What?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"Were you going to kill yourself in the bathroom?" She repeated, sitting down in front of me on my beanie-bag.

"I don't know." I mumbled in an annoyed tone. I was hoping that she would get the picture and go away. Of course that wouldn't happen.

"Don't. Don't kill yourself. Not in this house." She said, her eyes growing wide.

"Why? Because if I do then you won't be able to use me anymore?" I sneered.

"No, because you think you're in hell now?" She got up and began to laugh. God, she creeped me out. "Kid, you don't know anything about living in your own hell. You don't want to die in this house…be stuck in this house… It's the worst kind of hell."

"I wasn't going to kill myself, Hayden… I was just pissed off." I admitted and stood up. I walked over to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry; I'll still be alive to get you out of this house." I knew that was the only thing she cared about; she didn't care that I hurt myself, she didn't care that I was upset, all she cared about was getting out of this house. I didn't blame her, though, because if I was stuck in this house and knew someone who could free me, I wouldn't want them to kill themselves and get stuck, either.

It's a selfish world we live in.

"Do you usually do stupid things that hurt you when you're pissed?" She shrugged my hands off of her shoulders and walked over to my bookshelf and began poking through my books. I could have sworn my eye twitched in agitation.

"Mostly." I walked over to her and yanked a book out of her hands and put it back on the shelf. She picked another one up and walked away from me before I could get it back.

"You should get some counseling for that." She teased.

"Yeah, I'll pass." I walked over and grabbed the book from her and gave her a dirty look. She stuck her tongue out at me and then her eyes grew wide at something behind me. I looked over to Tate, who was now standing up and staring behind me as well. I gulped and slowly turned around to see what they were so freaked out about. Autumn was standing behind me, a freaked out look on her face. I felt my heart stop when I placed my eyes on her.

"Wynter…something happened." She said in a shaky voice. She looked absolutely freaked out, and I'm sure I wasn't far from joining her. I dropped my book and held my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Finding my voice I said, "Autumn…you're dead." My voice was shaking so much I could barely understand what I had just spoken. Her eyes grew wider and she wrapped her arms around her body.

"Am I?" Tears started falling down her face and I was finally able to move away from Hayden towards my little sister.

"Yeah…your Light…it's Dark." I stood in front of her, staring. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. How could this be happening? I just saw her a few hours ago. She was _alive_ a few hours ago. She was alive…

"I don't know what that means, Wynter." She said laughing slightly.

I raised my wrapped hand and lightly touched her face. "You don't have Light around you anymore! You're dead!" I finally joined her in the crying. "You're gone…you're dead… H-how the hell did this happen?"

"I don't…I don't know. I can't remember. Wynter, I can't remember." She was starting to get frantic so I did the only thing I knew how to do in a time like this: I gave her a hug. I long, hard, why did this happen, hug. Tate and Hayden stayed silent behind me, but I could feel their eyes lingering on us.

Just two broken sisters.

Finally I pulled away from Autumn. Our faces were wet from all the tears and our noses were snotting."Okay, listen, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I can get you out of here." I said with a smile. I was trying to make the best out of this situation, but nothing could make this better. Nothing…could make my sister alive again.

"What do you mean?" Her eyes lit up with hope.

"I can pass you on, Autumn, I can get you out of this house."

"What if I don't want to leave?" Her eyes grew sad again.

I shook my head. "Trust me Autumn…you don't want to stay here." I walked over to my closet and began pulling all the things out that I would need for the circle. I was trying to not cry again. Once I had everything out she looked at me like I was a monster or something. "What?"

"Where did you get all of this?" She asked, bending down and inspecting everything.

"A magic store."

She looked up at me. "Like for witches and stuff?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"So what, are you like a witch or something?" She stood back up and put her hands on her hips.

I shrugged again. "Yeah, I guess I am." She stepped over the things that were separating us and wrapped her arms around me. "We'll do it tonight…" She was silent but nodded and continued to hug me. I looked up at Tate and Hayden. Hayden was watching with an unbelieving look and Tate looked like he wanted to kill something.

I didn't understand anything anymore…

* * *

**A/N: Awh shiiiiiiet what could happen now? I wonder who killed Autumn, though you probably already knoooooow... Hah.**

**Another chapter up soon.  
**

**Please review and let me know what you think!  
**


	13. Sister, Sister

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Thirteen: Sister, Sister**_

"So, you're a ghost?" Autumn continued to make small talk with Tate while I set everything up for her circle. She kept rocking back and forth on her heels, making it almost impossible for me to draw the circle around her.

"Autumn, be still!" I hissed, glaring up at her.

"Someone's got something up their ass." She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and standing up straight. I sighed deeply and finished the other half of the circle. Yeah, I had something up my ass; sympathy for my sister being dead, and anger for my mother being a complete bitch and running my father away from us.

"Yeah." Tate answered the question from the corner of the basement.

"Everyone here is a ghost, Autumn." Hayden said.

"Man, I knew you hung out with freaks, Wynter, but ghosts? Jesus Christ…that's a new one, even for you." My sister said as I placed the candles around the white chalk circle.

"They're good people. Well, most of them." I eyed Hayden and Chad at the last sentence, showing them that I thought they were trash for the most part. Annoying trash.

"Yeah, if you get over the whole being dead thing." Autumn said smugly.

"Whatever, Autumn. You're dead now too, so you have no room to talk." It choked me up to say the words 'Autumn' and 'dead' in the same sentence, but I thought I was doing a good job at not breaking down and crying. No matter how much I wanted to, and god did I want to.

"So is this what you do for fun?" She asked, ignoring what I had just said. That was so typical of her.

"It's not for fun, Autumn, I'm helping them out." I was finished with the circle and waiting for it to turn twelve o'clock so that I could get this started before I changed my mind completely.

"How many times have you done this?"

"I've lost count."

We were all silent for a few minutes, each of us thinking of how this happened and why it happened and where exactly her body is. Grant it, I didn't go out and look for my sister's dead body. But her ghost appeared in the house, Tate said that she had to of been killed on the property for that to happen. Her body wasn't in the basement when we got down here. Whoever killed her could have taken it. Christ, I didn't want to think about this.

When the silence was becoming more than bearable, Autumn spoke, "Tate, listen to me, I know I was never there for my sister. Wynter, I'm really sorry." She gave me a sad looked. "But, Tate, you gotta be there for her. She's like a porcelain doll—"

"Thanks." I muttered and rolled my eyes as I started walking around with the heavily scented smudge stick.

"Shut up, you are." She said, giving me a shut up look and then continued to Tate, "Like I was saying, you gotta protect her. She could break at any minute, and she knows it. Promise me you'll take care of her." Autumn's face was pleading and it almost turned my waterworks on.

"I promise." Tate said, walking up beside me and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I looked up at him and smiled and he looked down at me with the same sweet smile.

"Promise your life." My sister said seriously.

"I'm dead." The boy answered slowly.

"Promise your soul."

"I promise my soul." He didn't hesitate with his answer, and that was when I realized that he really would do anything for me. Butterflies formed in my stomach but they quickly disappeared when I looked down at my watch and caught the time; two minutes until twelve.

"Okay, time to get this show on the road." I said and put the smudge stick in the front of the circle. I picked up my dolphin lighter and lit all the candles.

"Wynter, I'm so sorry I wasn't a better sister." Autumn said before I had the chance to start the prayer. "I—I should have been. Well, I can't take it back now." She motioned to her body and began laughing. "Hah. Just look at me, I'm dead!"

"Autumn, we both could have been better sisters." I said, grabbing her hands in mine. She had started crying but I was determined not to. "I don't blame you…as long as you don't blame me."

She shook her head and smiled. "Of course I don't blame you."

"You need to go to Heaven with a clear conscious."

"You really think I'm going to Heaven?" Her eyes lit with hope and relief and this time a tear escaped my eye. She reached up and wiped it away before I could shed more.

"Of course. Why wouldn't you? You're a pain in the ass but you deserve happieness." I smiled and gave her hands a squeeze. "Now, are you ready to do this?"

She nodded. "Yeah." I let go of her hands and went to stand a few feet in front of her. Tate handed me the black magic book. It was already open to the Prayer of Protection. I took a deep breath and readied myself. It was either now or never.

_"__O Brightness Light of Justice  
Guide and protect me  
I have and hold Divine Love  
I shall strengthen the hand of Justice  
And weaken the hand of Evil  
For the Good of all  
I wish it so"_

The familiar tingling sensation raced through my body and I knew that Autumn could feel it too because she gasped in surprise and delight. She was glowing white and I was glowing white and the candles had formed a cage of fire around her. Now it was time for the Prayer of Freedom. After I recited those words, I would see who killed my sister. I honestly didn't know if I was ready for that, but I couldn't turn back now.

_"I free you from all that binds you here  
Your time is now over_

_Be free and go into Next World  
Your soul is now free"_

Everything grew silent, but I knew what was coming next; the candles blew out for a few seconds. Autumn gave me a look that read that whatever I had just did didn't work. I smirked at her and then the candles lit with white fire, circled around her, and then came at me. I closed my eyes and braced for the extremely painful impact.

The white light that I was oh so familiar with incased my body for a few moments and then I was standing in a backyard. It only took me a few seconds to realize that it was my backyard; the gazebo and garden was the same. Two people were sitting inside the gazebo, fiercely sucking face and almost taking their clothes off. I wanted to gang when I recognized that it was my sister and Michael.

_Michael._

The blonde boy took my sisters shirt off, and just when things were about to reach their peak (ew) his hands wrapped around her throat and he squeezed as hard as he could. She was gasping for breath, struggling against him, trying to fight him, trying to break free.

"_No! Stop!"_ My voice was only a whisper in the wind. I ran up to them and tried to punch him off of her. My hands went through him like I was the ghost this time. _"Autumn! Fight him!" _I shouted. She looked up at me, _stared right at me_, and mouthed 'I can't.'

Could she really have seen me? How…? That's never happened before. But then again I never tried to intervene with a killing before this.

I wished that there was something that I could do, give her my strength, but this was a flashback; there was nothing that I could do about what was happening, whether I wanted to or not. And I wanted to kill him.

He finally let go of her neck when the struggling stopped. Her body fell limp to the ground of the gazebo and Michael put his clothes back on and dressed her. How thoughtful of him. Fucking psycho.

He left her body there on the gazebo and then walked away. Just like that. He walked away like it was so easy for him. Like he's killed before. Like this was no big deal to him. Like he just didn't care.

Who was I kidding, of course he didn't care; he just killed my little sister, the girl who probably loved him. Strangled her and left her body in the backyard.

_In my backyard…_

The scene changed back to white and I was standing in front of my dead sister, but instead of looking sad and distraught, she looked happy and at peace. She greeted me with a smile and a tight hug.

"I can't believe he killed you…" I whispered, starting to choke on my tears.

"I can't believe that I fell for him." She wiped my eyes and kissed me on the cheek. "I guess I'm just attracted to bad boys."

"Oh, you have no idea." I laughed and gave her another hug. "I love you, Autumn, I didn't tell you that enough. I haven't told it to you in a long time, actually."

"Wynter, I don't blame you. We could have been better." She looked behind her to a glaring light that was getting brighter and brighter and closer and closer. She turned back to me with a bright smile. "Look, it's the Light. I need to go now." She began to walk away from me but I grabbed her hand.

"I love you." I said, more tears falling from my eyes.

"I love you, too." I let go of her and she began to walk away but turned back before reaching the Light. "Wait…does he love you?"

My eye brows perked with question. "Tate? Yeah…he loves me."

"Do you love him?"

I smiled. "Yeah…I love him."

"Good. You deserve to be happy." She turned back to the Light and began walking again. "Hey, I see Fiona and Arielle!" My heart began to hurt; I held my chest as my beating grew faster. "They look happy! They're waving at me. The Light…it's so warm." Autumn disappeared and I woke up smiling and feeling lighthearted rather than the pain I was usually in.

"_Arielle says she doesn't hate you, Wynter. She says she's happy. She says she loves you. And she says to stop having those damn nightmares about her!" _Autumn's voice echoed through my head and I smiled. Sounded just like something Arielle would say…

"Are you okay?" Tate asked. I was in his lap again. He was wiping my face with a wet wash cloth.

"Yeah…I'm okay." I sat up and held my pounding head. Only passing on one person didn't take that much out of me. Usually when I wake up I feel like I had just gone skydiving without a parachute, but this time I just felt like I had gotten in a fight and lost. This was a much better feeling. "Michael killed Autumn." I turned to look at Tate, who now stared at me with wide and deceived eyes. He was silent as I stood up and cracked my back. "I'm going to kill him." I said simply. His eyes grew wider and Hayden laughed from the corner of the basement near the door.

"Huh. I knew you weren't all about puppies and rainbows." She said, slinking towards me with her arms crossed over her chest. "What makes you want to kill him?" She stood in front of me. I gave her a hard look.

"He killed my sister. A life for a life." I said, picking up the magic book. "Plus, he's killed before. That bastard needs to die." I looked over at Tate to see his expression, but his face had none. I felt a little bad, talking about killing his _son _but a part of me didn't give a shit. "Her body…is in the gazebo. I need to move it somewhere before my mother decides to come back home…"

"I'll do it." Tate said suddenly.

"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically.

He nodded and then walked out the door leading to the backyard. I thought that maybe I should go after him, but didn't, figuring that he needed some time alone. I began picking up all the circle things and placing them in a bag to carry them back upstairs.

"So how are you going to do it?" Moira asked with interest. I hadn't even realized that she was in here.

I shrugged and thumped the black book. "There might be something in the book. A way to kill him without leaving a trace."

"And what if there isn't?"

"Well there has to be."

**-X-**

That night I sat alone in my room. Hayden and the others were leaving me alone and Tate was still handling the matter of my sister's body, however he was doing that.

I was flipping through the black magic book when my eyes caught sight of something I hoped to be promising. **The Suicide Spell**, under it was a description and a list of things that I would need.

**The Suicide Spell**

_Sometimes there are just some people that we want dead. The Suicide Spell, when performed right, will kill whomever you want, making it look like a suicide, leaving absolutely no trace of evidence at all._

_When performing The Suicide Spell, the results, for you, will be as painful as it is for them. However you wish to kill them; slit wrists, cut throat, bullet to brain, knife to chest, use your imagination, the pain that they experience in their death will be the pain you experience. You will not die, but you will wish that you are dead._

_You will need: one black candle, one red candle, red and black rose petals, and a lock of their hair_

_Instructions:  
1. Place the black candle to the left of you  
2. Place the red candle to the right of you  
3. Make a half-heart with the red rose petals around the black candle  
4. Make a half-heart with the black rose petals around the red candle  
5. Recite the spell  
6. Put half of the hair in the black flame and half in the red flame  
7. Expect pain to come next_

**The Spell**

_(Name of person), I wish you dead  
With these sacraments I make it so  
With a (How you want them to kill themselves)  
You will reap what you sow  
Your breathing is staggered  
Your life is draining  
Now you are dead  
And I am laughing_

"Bingo." I muttered, marking the place in the book by folding down the edge of the page. I didn't care how badly it would hurt me; it would hurt him even more in the long run.

"What are you smiling about?" Tate asked, suddenly appearing beside me on the bed. I didn't even realize that I was smiling.

"I found a spell to kill…Michael with."

"When are you going to do it?" He grabbed the book and placed it on the nightstand beside the bed. He then pulled me onto his chest and started playing with my hair.

"Tomorrow." I answered softly.

"Tomorrow? Shouldn't you just wait until you have enough energy?"

"Tate, I'm fine." I looked up at him and crinkled my eyebrows. "And I have to do it tomorrow…before anyone else gets hurt."

"Okay…" He trailed off in a tone of agitation.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked in a small voice.

"No, of course not. You do what you have to do, and I'll be here. Ready to help." After that we were quiet. We had nothing more to say to each other tonight. I was going to kill his son, because his son killed my sister.

I didn't know how much more fucked up that could get.

* * *

**A/N: Boom baby. Only a few more chapters to go. Things are getting serious. XD haha.**

**Another chapter soon!  
**

**Please review and let me know what you think! :)  
**


	14. Nothing Is the Same

**Locked With the Damned**

**_Chapter Fourteen: Nothing Is the Same_**

I had everything I needed for the spell except for that blonde bastards hair. _That _was going to be a tough one to get. I had gone over so many different plans in my head, but in the end I had nothing. Until I thought of the obvious answer: I would go over there and take some hair. Easy. Well, not really easy. I still didn't know _how_ I was going to be able to get a lock of his hair once I was over there. Then I thought of something else, and it made my skin crawl. But this was for my sister; it had to be done. At this point, I was all out of other options.

So I put on the most revealing shirt I had and slipped on the shortest shorts I could find and headed down the stairs. I didn't see Tate as I walked out the front door, but I did run into my mother. She took one look at what I was wearing and adverted her eyes from me. She probably thought that I was dressed like a whore, but then again that was the whole point.

"Where are you going…dressed like that?" She asked, walking around me and opening back up the front door.

"I'm going to Constance's house." I backed up off the porch with my hands behind my back.

"Have you seen your sister?" The woman asked. My heart ached but I played it cool.

"That's what I'm going over there for; to see if Autumn's there."

"Alright, just…don't stay over there long." My mother said and then slammed the front door shut. She was acting so mellow…I wondered if she was high because she never acted like that. I looked back up at my house and saw Tate standing in my bedroom against the window. I waved up at him but he just disappeared. I frowned and signed and hurried off to get that fucked up boy's hair.

I was just hoping that Tate wouldn't hate me for doing this…

I ran up on the porch and before knocking I tried to pull down my shorts and pull up my shirt, but of course that wouldn't do anything because they barely covered me up. Ugh. I felt like a damn street walker. As I knocked on the door I wondered why the hell I had these clothes in the first place. This was the first day that I had ever worn them; I didn't even know they were in my closet.

After my fourth knock Michael answered the door with just his pants on. Perfect. God, this was going to be so horrible. I must say though, he had a nice bo—nope! Not thinking about that. No way. Nope. Nu-huh. All thoughts of that ran out of my mind when I remembered the scene of him killing my sister. Then I wanted to wring his neck. But I stuck to the plan.

"There a reason why you're here, Wynter?" Michael asked, leaning up against the doorframe and looking up and down at my body, his eyes lingering on my breasts. I thought I was about to puke.

"Um, yeah, is my sister here?" I asked, pushing past him and walking into the house.

"No one's here except me." He said, shutting the front door. I jumped and turned around to come face to face with his toned chest. I squeaked and jumped back with wide eyes. He backed me up against the wall and stared down my shirt. I wanted to knee him in the crotch. "Anything else I can help you with?" He whispered in my ear. Guess he was trying to be seductive. I thought it was just creepy. I looked up at him. It was now or never. I didn't prefer either, but I didn't have a choice. I leaned up on my toes and grabbed the back of his head, crashing his lips down on mine.

_Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. _I thought as his tongue slithered down my throat and his hands found their way to my butt. I tried to imagine that it was Tate kissing me and fondling me, but that just made it worse.

Before anything else could happen, and before I puked everywhere, I yanked out a chunk of his hair and he pulled away from me, rubbing the back of his head. I put my hand behind my back and hoped that he wasn't going to hit me. Instead of being angry, he smiled. Which I found to be extremely creepy.

"You like to play rough? I can play rough, too." He said, moving back to stand in front of me. I ducked under his arms and scurried to the door.

"Maybe next time!" I shouted and ran back to my house before he had the chance to catch me. I ran into the house, locking the front door back. I looked out the window but didn't see him follow after me. Good. I turned and came face to face with young Moira, who scared the shit out of me. "Goddamn…" I whispered and started up the stairs.

"What's wrong, Wynter?" She asked, watching me as I walked backwards on the stairs.

"Nothing. I'm fine. Why do you ask? Tell my mom that Autumn wasn't at Constance's house. 'Kay, thanks, see you later." I waved to her and then bolted up the rest of the stairs and ran into my room, not bothering to look at Autumn's door because I knew that I would just break down crying.

I ran into my room and was surprised to see that I was alone. I locked my bedroom door, not that it would keep _them_ out, but it would keep my mother out. Not that she would come to my room anyway. I stood still for a minute, letting my heartbeat slow down before I got everything ready.

Once it was down to it's normal pace I walked over to my piano and sat down on the bench. Last night I had already set out the things that I would need; I actually had everything this time, so I didn't have to go back and see Blake and have him ask me more annoying questions or have him warn me that I was endangering my life _yada yada yada_.

The candles and rose petals were already set out and ready to be lit and the spell to be cast. I got back up and turned off my bedroom light and unplugged anything electronic. It was best to cast spells at night, but I couldn't wait for this one. I sat back down and lit the two candles. The heat from the flames radiated against my face, making me feel like I was melting.

I grabbed the spell book I had laid next to the candles and turned to the page with the Suicide Spell on it. I gulped, took a few deep breaths, and then spoke in what I hoped was a clear and strong voice.

"_Michael Langdon, I wish you dead  
With these sacraments I make it so  
With a knife to your heart"_

I felt a deep pain spread in my chest. It was getting harder for me to breathe but I kept going.

"_You will reap what you sow  
Your breathing is staggered  
Your life is draining  
Now you are dead  
And I am laughing"_

Once I was done reciting the spell I quickly separated the hair that I had gotten a few minutes ago and put half in the red candle and half in the black candle. The hair sizzled until it was completely gone and then the flames turned black (for the red candle) and red (for the black candle) and intertwined with each other. Pain exploded in my chest and I staggered to breathe. The flames circled around me and then disappeared and I fell from the bench. My breathing slowed until it stopped and I was dead.

I wasn't in the light this time; this place was dark, lit only by a single candle. Standing in front of me was the boy I had just killed. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was wearing a black cloak. When he saw me his eyes grew wide and he scowled.

"You killed me, you bitch." He spat.

"You killed my sister, you dick." I spat back with more anger.

He laughed and smirked. "Well, I must hand it to you; you had a lot more balls than I thought you did. Good for you, getting rid of the evil." He walked closer to me and then a man appeared in front of us on a gondola. He was a horrible disfigured man; he looked like those inbred monster-creature-people-things from _The Hills Have Eyes_. "Looks like my ride's here." Michael said, pushing past me and walking up to the man.

"Where are you going?" I asked, trying to not make eye contact with the monster thing.

"Hell, where else?" He shrugged.

"Where you belong." I said nodding my head. Michael held his chest and put on a fake hurt face.

"Ouch, that hurt."

"I hope you hurt a lot more when you get there." I said nonchalantly.

"You're even more heartless than I thought you were. I wonder what my _father_ sees in you…"

I slanted my eyes at him and crossed my arms over my chest. "Goodbye, Michael. May you rot in hell forever." I said with a smile.

He smiled back at me and then the gondola man started to sail them away in the darkness. "This isn't goodbye, Wynter, this is just see you later." I wondered what he meant by that, but I didn't have time to ask him because I opened my eyes to see Tate and Hayden hovering over me. One of them looked scared and the other looked emotionless. I wished that Tate was the one who looked scared…

"What happened to you?" Hayden asked, holding her hand down to me. When Tate didn't offer me his hand I took hers and she slowly helped me up. Tate stood up and walked to the corner of my room, as far away from me as he could and not looking at me. _Shit._

"I—um…I killed Michael…" I trailed off.

Hayden's eyes grew wide. "Did you really?" I nodded. "How'd you do it?" She asked eagerly. I walked back over to my piano and handed her the spell book that was still open to the Suicide Spell. She skimmed over it and then looked back up at me with wide eyes. "And this really worked?" I nodded. "How do you know?"

I grabbed the book back from her and shut it, throwing it on my bed and holding myself. "Because…I was there. I saw him. He's dead…he went to hell…" I mumbled. I looked over at Tate. He still wasn't looking at me. Hayden gave me a look of approval and then got the picture.

"Okay…well I'm going to go now." She said and then gave me another 'I'm-proud-of-you' look, which made me even sicker to my stomach, and then disappeared. Even after she was gone Tate stayed as far away from me as possible.

When the silence had started eating me alive, I asked, "Are you mad at me?"

"He killed your sister." He said, moving away from the wall and stepping a little closer to me.

"But he was your son." I said in a small voice.

"I'm not much of a father; in fact, I try to not think about it at all. You did what you had to do. Don't worry about whether I care or not." He sighed, walking over to my piano and examining the candle and rose petals.

"But I do worry if you care." I lightly touched his arm and he jerked away from me like I was a disease or something. My stomach fell. I kept my tears locked inside my eyes.

"I don't, so change the subject." He said sternly.

I glared at him and walked behind my piano to look him in the face. "I will not change the subject! You do care and now you're pissed off at me." He was silent, not looking up at me. "If you cared so much then why didn't you say anything?" I asked, my voice cracking from the tears that I wouldn't let fall.

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Like it would have mattered."

"It would have mattered!" My voice began to rise but he still didn't look at me. "To me," I held my chest, tears finally falling from my eyes. "To me it would have mattered!"

He looked up at me, looking angry rather than sad. "So you wouldn't have done it if I told you not to?" He asked.

"No—maybe—I don't know!" I answered honestly and looked away from his hateful gaze.

"It wouldn't have made a difference." He scoffed and then turned away from me.

"You didn't try to make it a difference." I whispered.

He turned back to me, more anger flared in his face. He grabbed the two candles and threw them against the wall behind me and shouted, "Well it doesn't matter now!"

"He killed my sister, Tate!" I shouted back, bawling my hands into tight fists.

"And that makes it okay for you to kill him?" He asked.

I was silent for a few seconds, trying to get the buzz out of my brain. I didn't cry anymore. Now I was just confused. "D-do you hate me now?" I finally asked, my voice just barely above a whisper. My face was wet and cold from crying and I could tell that my eyes were puffy.

Tate looked away from me and was silent for a few more seconds. "I honestly don't know." He answered and then disappeared. I held my head down and bit my lip. I wrapped my arms around my body and just cried. I didn't cry because of what I'd done, I cried because Tate was mad at me about it. And I _knew_ even if he had told me not to…I would have done it anyway.

A life for a life, right?

**-X-**

I awoke early the next morning with a feeling that something was wrong. I quickly got dressed in some jeans and a long sleeved shirt, threw on my Vans and ran down stairs. From the living room I could hear someone crying. When I walked into the room I saw Constance sitting on the couch with my mother. They were both crying their eyes out.

"What's going on…?" I asked, sitting down in the chair in front of them.

My mom patted Constance's hand and then said, "When Constance got home last night…she saw that… Wynter, Michael killed himself last night."

I pretended to act shocked and hurt and sad. "What? Are you sure it was a suicide?"

Constance nodded. "The police came last night…they called me this morning and confirmed that his finger prints were the only ones on the knife."

"Knife?" I questioned.

The woman continued to look at me, as if she was searching for some reason to blame me. "He stabbed himself in the chest…" She trailed off.

"And now Autumn is missing." My mother added. I pretended to act shocked again, even though this time I wanted to run back up to my room and cry.

"Okay," I finally said, standing up. "Mom, let's not jump to conclusions; I'll go into town and look for her. There has to be a logical explanation for this." I didn't wait for my mom to say anything as I walked out the front door. Even though I was out of the house I could feel Constance's eyes on me. With a shutter I grabbed my bike and began pedaling into town. I wasn't going to go look for Autumn, obviously, I was going to go back to the magic shop to get more supplies for the final circles that I would be casting in a few days.

I parked my bike in the usual spot and walked into the dark store. Blake was behind the counter, as perusal. When he heard the door open his head perked up and when he saw me his eyes grew wide. "What, tired of me already?" I asked and gathered all the things that I needed. When I went over to the counter he backed up from me a little. I furrowed my eyebrows. "I don't bite, Blake."

"It's…it's not that—it's just that—"

"Spit it out." I demanded, putting my hands on my hips.

"You preformed the Suicide Spell, didn't you?" He asked, his eyes still wide.

I could feel my mouth hang open. "How the hell…"

"Because, your aura…is black and red…and that only happens when you do the Suicide Spell." He said, moving back to where he was standing before.

I raised my eyebrows. "And why is that?"

"Because you've killed someone and therefore you have died."

I shook my head and pushed all the stuff I set on the counter closer to him, showing him that I was ready to leave. "That made no since at all, you weirdo."

"Who did you kill?" He asked, avoiding what I had just said.

"He killed my sister." I blurted.

He looked up at me, his eyes sad. "I didn't ask _why_ you did it; I asked _who_ you did it on."

I gave him a hard look for a few minutes and then sighed and said, "This kid named Michael."

"Michael Langdon?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, you know him?" Now it was my turn to be surprised.

He nodded. "Knew him. Didn't like him." He shrugged and then put all my things in a bag and slid it over to me.

"I suppose you know his mother, too." I grabbed the bag and wished that this conversation would be over.

"And Tate." He added.

My heart stopped. "How do you know Tate?"

"I've been to that house, Wynter. I know them all." He said slowly.

I put two and two together. "Is that what you tried to do? Back when we first met and you said you preformed the unbinding spell, did you do it to someone in that house?"

"Tried."

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You said something horrible happened." I gave him a 'Don't-you-dare-lie-to-me' look. When he didn't say anything I began tapping my foot on the ground. He knew I wasn't leaving until he told me.

Finally he growled, "I didn't do it right."

"What do you mean?"

He rubbed his temple and explained, "I was a stupid kid. It was a long time ago; I didn't take it seriously, and it backfired. One of my friends died, and that's how I got the Sight."

"Is that what this thing is called, _Sight_?" I questioned.

Blake nodded as I handed him some money, probably more than I owed him. "That's why I told you to be careful."

"What happened after that?"

"Nothing."

"You're telling me less than you know."

"Some things, Wynter, you just aren't meant to know." He said with a slight smile. I nodded sarcastically and then made my way to the door. I was halfway out when he said, "…Sorry about your sister."

I turned to give him a sad look and then said, "Yeah, so am I." I walked out of the store and got back on my bike. I road back home crying. When I reached my house I dried up my tears and walked through the door. Constance and my mother were gone. Constance really didn't care about her son, I could see it. And my mother didn't really care about Autumn, I knew that. She didn't care about any of us. All they cared about was themselves. But they put up a good show.

That night I got called downstairs for the first time by my mother. I was hoping she had something important to tell me, maybe even apologize to me, or to tell me that she worked everything out with my dad, but I was far off. Two police officers were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hello Wynter, my name is Officer Reynolds, this is my partner Officer Mitch, we have a few questions for you about the disappearance of your sister, Autumn." The large officer said. I mentally kicked myself in the ass to not start crying. _Don't show them that you know something_. I thought.

"Of course." I nodded.

The younger, skinnier officer, Officer Mitch cleared his throat and pulled out a note pad and a pen. "Did your sister tell you where she was going Thanksgiving Day?"

I shook my head. "Nope. She's usually hanging out with that Langdon boy."

"We got news that he is deceased." Officer Mitch said, looking up at me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I heard he killed himself." I tried to have sympathy in my voice, but with no prevail.

"Has Autumn tried to contact you all?"

"No."

"Would you be willing to give us your phone?"

I raised my eyebrows at him and his partner gave him the stank eye. "Yeah sure, if you come back with a search warrant." He younger officer's face turned red.

"We will not be needing your phone, Miss Summers." The older officer intervened. "Do you know any of her other friends she hung out with?"

I shook my head. "No…Autumn and I really weren't on speaking terms."

"And why is that?" Officer Mitch asked.

"Because we had different interests. We didn't really get along because of it. She did her own thing and I did mine. But…I really hope that you find her." I began to get all choked up, and it wasn't for show. Officer Reynolds handed me a tissue and then turned to his partner and my mother.

"I think we're done here, ma'am. We'll put out an Amber Alert and notify the county. We'll find your daughter." My mom nodded and then the old officer turned to me and handed me a card. "If you can think of anything else, please, don't hesitate to call." I nodded and watched as they left. My mother went into the living room with tears falling from her eyes.

Maybe she _really_ did care about Autumn, but I knew if I was the one missing, she wouldn't even lift a finger to find me.

I also knew another thing for certain; the police were not going to find Autumn, at least not alive. I didn't know how Tate got rid of her body, and at this moment, I honestly didn't care.

**A/N: LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. OMG. MY FINGERS HURT. lol not really. But this really is the longest chapter I've written for this story. Haha. I hope you guys enjoyed it. :) I'll update in a few days. Oh, and I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. I got rid of most of them, but I might have missed some because I'm so tired. Haha  
**

**Please review for a new chapter!**


	15. Coming Back Down

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Fifteen: Coming Back Down**_

It was hard to focus on performing the unbinding spell when my mind was soaring with thoughts on how I might be able to get Tate to forgive me. A week has past, and he still hasn't said a word to me. I haven't even seen him around the house, but I know he's there, just not visible. I didn't know how long he could stay mad at me, but I guess I would be finding out.

"Wynter!" Hayden hissed from the circle. My eyes wandered from Chad and Patrick's faces then Moira's and back to Hayden's. Chad and Patrick seemed agitated that I waited this long to pass them on, Moira just looked sympathetic, and Hayden looked pissed that she wasn't gone already.

"What?" I asked softly, lightly stroking the pages of the magic book. If I never got this thing, then none of this would have happened; Tate wouldn't hate me, I wouldn't feel like I'm dying little by little every time I perform one of these spells, and I would have never met Blake. But my sister would most likely still be dead, and I would be in more pain knowing she was stuck here with no way of ever seeing the Light.

I went through a whole scenario in my head of what if's. And everything went back to the day Arielle died. What if that never happened? What if…I was able to get my best friend help and she got better? What if I didn't have this…power?

I honestly couldn't picture my life without it; this thing I have, this Sight has become a part of who I am. If the bad things in my life had never happened, then I would be in New York right now, still fighting with my sister, my parents would still be eating each other alive, and I would have never met Tate.

I would have never met Tate…

I would have never fallen in love with an amazingly wonderful boy…

"Wynter!" Hayden hissed again. I drew my attention back to her and shook all the what if's out of my head and focused back on the now. I hated the now so much at the moment, but I couldn't deny it anymore.

"What?" I asked with more force in my voice than last time. I looked up at her pointedly and waited for her to go on. She retaliated and put her hands on her hips and gave me a hard look while pursing her lips.

"Can we get a move on it?" She asked.

I rubbed my temple and shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"Are you okay, Wynter?" Moira asked, placing her hand on my shoulder and looking at me with soggy eyes.

I glanced at her and shrugged her hand off. "I'm fine. I'm always fine." I cleared my throat and held the black book up over my face so that I wouldn't have to look at the annoying red head anymore than I had to.

As I said the Prayer of Protection, the familiar tingling sensation didn't shoot through my body like it usually did; instead it was replaced with an aching that almost made me drop to my knees. Hayden did drop to her knees and held her chest. She started panting and shouting in pain, much like I wanted to do.

Even though I should have stopped, I didn't.

I chanted the final words to the Prayer of Freedom. When I was done, the candles went out, as expected. Hayden was still clutching her chest, but I stood strong, clenching my fists to keep from falling on my face. Chad, Patrick and Moira stood in the background, their bodies tight. The silence took a lot longer than usual, and when the candles lit back up, the light was black instead of white. And instead of circling around Hayden, it shot right at me and enclosed around me like a body suit. I screamed and thrashed around, trying to break free, but nothing happened. My breathing was rigid now as I fell to my knees. I couldn't break free from the black fire, no matter how hard I tried. Slowly, my breathing became faint and I could feel the life draining out of me.

Suddenly, the black disappeared and I gasped freely for the sweet air. I held my throat and wheezed; trying to suck down as much life force as I could, like it would just vanish in an instant and I would be dead. Once I was sure I could get up, I stood and grabbed the wall to keep from falling. The four ghosts were staring at me, and one of them was pissed.

"What the hell was that? Why didn't it work? What did you do wrong? Why am I still here?" Hayden bombarded me with questions, screaming in my face. I looked away from her, holding my chest to make sure that my heart was still beating.

She was giving me a headache.

"I don't know!" I shouted in anger. She shut up and moved away from me, crossing her arms and turning her nose up. She was such a child. I hated her. So much. "Trust me; I want you gone just as badly as you do." I added and moved away from the wall to pick up the book. I skimmed over some pages but didn't see anything that stood out to me, not that I was actually looking; I just wanted Hayden to _die_.

"Maybe it's because her body is buried in the backyard…" Moira said quietly, still standing on the other side of the room. I turned sharply to her and glared. My heart was fluttering again, only this time not out of fear, it was out of anger.

"_What_?" I asked darkly. "Isn't it common sense to you that you _can't _be passed on if your body is still on the property!" I had read that when I first got the book, but it never occurred to me that that was the reason why the candles turned black and almost suffocated me. "You're morons! All of you!" I screamed and then began up the stairs without gathering my circle things. Like my mother would come down here, anyway.

"Under the gazebo!" Moira shouted after me. I walked halfway back down the stairs.

"What?" I asked exasperatedly. I just wanted this night to be over already.

"Hayden and I…we're under the gazebo…" She trailed off.

"_We're_? As in both of you? As in the two of you together?" Moira nodded. I held my head in my hand and rubbed my temple. Now I wanted to cry. Not in sadness, in aggravation.

Why couldn't things ever be simple?

"What are you going to do?" Hayden asked in a small voice. She wasn't pissed anymore, now she was scared. Scared that I wouldn't pass her on anymore because I would have to dig up her body, not to mention Moira's. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about giving up, but I had promised them, and I have to keep my promise.

"I'll…have to dig up the gazebo." I sighed, my head still in my hand.

"Really?" Moira asked with hope.

I nodded. "Really…" As much as I didn't want to.

"Then why can't you just pass us on now?" Patrick asked. He was never the annoying one, but here lately, he's been just as bad as his ex-lover Mr. I-Have-Something-Stuck-In-My-Ass-All-The-Damn-Time.

"Because I'm tired!" I shouted, throwing my arms up in the air. "I'm tired…I'm tired…and I have a funeral to go to tomorrow. Get me the stuff to start demolishing the gazebo, and I'll do it in a few days. You guys have lasted this long, a few more days won't _kill_ you. I'll even pass all four of you on at one time just to get you gone." I said and then left them in the basement to complain more about how what a horrible person I was.

Whatever.

I was tired. I was tired of _everything_.

**-X-**

The bastard didn't deserve to have a funeral in my opinion. I think I was the only one there who wasn't crying. I forced myself to look sad, though. Constance stood a few feet away from me, soaking up all the sympathy from my mother and, surprisingly my father and the rest of the people. I rolled my eyes and with my arms crossed over my chest I walked to his black casket.

A black casket for a black heart.

People had placed roses and those little white flowers on top of it and I grimaced.

"I hope you're burning." I said with deep hatred in my voice. I gave the thing that had Michael's body in it one last dirty look and then turned away. I walked up to my mother, and with a fake sob I said, "Mom, I'm going to go for a walk…get my mind off things." She nodded, not paying me any attention. I don't even think she heard me. I rolled my eyes and then headed off towards the woods where I swore I saw a black mass hanging around.

I walked down the pathway leading into the woods. It was so peaceful here, even if I was surrounded by dead people. I mean, I was surrounded by dead people at home too. Maybe it's made me into a seriously morbid person.

As I got deeper into the woods, the trail dipped off into tall grass. I walked through the grass and stumped my toe on something hard. I cursed my stupidity for wearing open-toed dress shoes (my mother wouldn't let me wear my converse, even though they were black). I bent down to see what I had almost tripped over and signed. It was an old headstone. The cement had a huge crack down the middle and the black engraved writing wasn't readable anymore. I stood back up and walked forward, almost tripping on something. I finally realized that the grass was covering a whole family of graves.

I started pulling the grass out of the ground around the graves. It was disrespectful to let it grow out this long. I jumped when I saw another set of hands helping me. I looked up and saw a little girl, maybe ten, standing in front of me. She was wearing a blue ruffle dress and her hair was in small dark ringlets. She was pale like a porcelain doll and had blue marks around her neck.

"Hi," I said, trying to keep my cool. Okay, yes, I know I could see ghosts, but I never actually _talked_ to a stray one. Just…saw them passing by. They never paid much attention to me before.

She turned her head to the side and smiled. Her teeth were so white and straight. "Hi!" She said happily. "You're pretty!" Her smile grew wider and she started pulling up the grass again. I could feel my cheeks flush red and I looked down.

"Um, thanks." I mumbled and started pulling out the grass. "Is this…uh, is this you?" I asked, pointing to the grave that I had almost tripped over.

The girl shook her head. "That's my brother, Brendon." She walked a few steps forward and then pointed down. "This is me." I walked towards her, careful to not trip over anything. I bent down and read the grave.

**Marylnn DeGrouf  
1800-1810  
An angel now in Heaven**

"My mommy was out one night, and my father strangled me." She said it with so feeling, like she's said it a million times before. I felt tears sting my eyes when I looked back up at her. She smiled at me and grabbed my arm. "Don't cry silly. I like it here."

"You like being in the woods?" I asked.

She nodded. "It's nice here, quiet. And I don't have to worry about anything. Plus, my brother's here to keep me company."

"Where is he now?" I looked around but I didn't see anyone.

"He's shy." She looked to a large tree in the center of the woods and smiled. I turned my head and saw a boy my age sitting there, petting a squirrel. "He only likes talking to the animals. He says they understand him better than people did." She crossed her arms and made a face at the shaggy black haired boy.

"How'd he die?" I asked.

"He tried to save me, but my father shot him." Marylnn said simply. I nodded and sat down on the ground. She sat down beside me.

"You're different from him." She said.

I arched an eyebrow. "Who?"

"The boy who comes here every day."

"What b—Blake?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Wynter, so nice to see you here." I turned to see the black haired devil himself. He wore his usual black leather pants and band shirt with a black leather jacket on top. His hair was pulled in a pony tail, showing off his various ear piercings. His black boots had more chains on them than I remembered, but then again, I never really paid much attention to his shoes. "Mary, go hang out with your brother. I need to talk to Wynter for a minute."

"Okay Blake!" She skipped over to the large tree and sat down next to her somber brother and began petting the small animal in his lap.

I stood up, wiping the stray grass from my pants. I was about to ask him what he was doing here but he beat me to something else. "How many are left in the house?" He asked. My eyes grew wide because I wasn't expecting that.

"Four, plus Tate." I answered with a shrug.

"Are you passing on Tate?" He asked nonchalantly and began picking at his nails.

I slanted my eyes. "I don't know…he doesn't want me to."

"You love him?" He looked up at me, his eyes piercing. I felt like he could see right through me. Hell, he probably could.

"What does it matter to you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and giving him a hard look.

"You made a mistake getting close to him." He stepped closer to me and shoved his hands in his pockets. His pants were so tight, it amazed me he could fit his hands in the pockets.

"I don't need you to tell me about the mistakes that I make. And no, falling in love with him isn't a mistake." I said, dropping my arms and running my hands through my hair. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I was just…"

"Stalking me?"

"Don't flatter yourself." He smirked. I glared, resisting the nerve to punch him. I thought that he deserved a good punch in the gut. "I just came to see Mary and Brendon." He said, walking towards the tree.

"Right, and it just happened to be on the day of Michael's funeral. The day that I would be here." I rolled my eyes but didn't move. After a few seconds I asked, "Blake, what are you not telling me?"

He turned to me and stared. "I've told you everything."

"And I don't believe you." I laughed. "You're hiding something, I don't know what it is, and quite frankly, I don't want to know. I just want you to stop popping up everywhere I am. It's creepy."

"Sorry…just…making sure you're okay." He sighed.

I smiled slightly. "I'm always okay, Blake."

"One of these days, you won't be." He said flatly.

"You sound just like my mother." I muttered.

"Well we don't want that, now do we?" He asked with a smirk.

I smirked back and said, "No, definitely not." The wind started to pick up and I thought that I could hear my mother shouting for me. "I'm going now…tell Marylnn I said good bye." I waved at Blake and then, despite probably falling over and breaking my face, I ran back towards the funeral. I didn't need to give my mother another reason to yell at me.

The woman was still so disheveled about her little angel running away. If only she knew the truth, then maybe she would shut up. Or not. Probably not.

* * *

**A/N: Three more chapters left...yep. It's almost that time. :(**

**Please review and let me know what you think!  
**


	16. When Was Life Ever Easy?

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Sixteen: When Was Life Ever Easy?**_

I woke up bright and early the next morning to get to work on tearing down that damn gazebo. Whoever thought to build a gazebo over two dead bodies is a moron—okay, they're not a moron, but they sure as hell are making my job a lot harder. I started with an axe, chopping down all the boards. I must admit that that was the fun part. I barely even broke a sweat. But then I got down to the boards on the bottom and the endless layers of cement.

Okay, now the person who made this was a _moron_.

I tried prying up the boards, but that wouldn't work. Then I took an axe to them and hacked them up to the cement. But there was no way that I could get that cement up without hardcore tools. And I didn't have any hardcore tools. Of course. Making my job _harder_.

I let out an angry, frustrated sigh and threw the axe down. It bounced a few times before it fell at someone's feet. I looked up to see Chad. _Great_. I thought. He picked up the axe and gripped it tightly in his hands. I crossed my arms and waited for him to blow up at me.

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One…_

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked.

_Bingo…_

"Well how the hell do you expect me to _cut through_ cement without one of those heavy duty tools?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"I don't know, just do it!" He shouted, throwing the axe at me. I jumped out of the way as it sailed towards me and almost chopped a small tree in half. That could have been my head.

"Why did you do that?" I shouted, bawling my fists up.

"If you don't dig those damn bodies up then I'll never get out of here!"

"You want it done so badly," I turned and grabbed the axe. "You do it yourself." I threw it at him and he caught it just inches away from his face. "I could honestly care less about the whole damn thing." I began to walk away but he called out to me.

"How do you expect me to do this?"

I turned back to him. "I don't know, figure it out." And then I walked to the front of the house and was surprised to see the two cops from before standing in front of me. _What the hell do these two want now? _I thought with a scowl but greeted them outwardly with a smile.

"Miss Summers," The young one, Officer Mitch said.

"What can I help you with?" I asked, a smile still plastered on my face.

"We need you to come downtown for a few more questions about your sister." The old one, Officer Reynolds said.

I raised an eyebrow. "But I already told you everything I know."

"Yeah, well, we don't believe you." Officer Mitch said, walking closer to me, his handcuffs out.

I stepped back. "Am I under arrest or something?"

Officer Reynolds shook his head and put a hand on the young man's shoulder, pulling him back with force. "No ma'am, we just need to ask you a few more questions."

"Can't we do it here?"

"It would be best if you came with us." Reynolds said. I nodded and reluctantly followed the two officers to their patrol car and sat in the backseat. Mitch stared at me from the mirror a few times, and I shot him a glare every chance I got. I hated it when young people felt that they had something to prove when with their seniors. It wasn't cute or funny. It was just annoying.

But I was fine, because I knew that I had nothing to hide.

_Well, not really._

When we got to the station Reynolds led me to an interrogation room while Mitch went to go get me some juice. Yes, I made that little bitch get me some juice, just to see the look on his face. It was priceless. I enjoyed it.

I sat down on the right side of the table and waited for Mitch to return so that this damn thing could get started already. He entered the room and slammed the door shut and put down my cup of juice with so much force that it almost spilt out all over me. I scooted back in the chair as the two officers sat down in front of me. I folded my hands in my lap and waited for them to get started.

"Now, Wynter, you know you're not under arrest, right?" Reynolds asked. I nodded. Mitch scoffed. "So that means that you can get up and leave anytime you want, okay?" I nodded again. "We talked to your mother earlier and she said that she wasn't going to come to this meeting. She said that you have nothing to hide." He went on. I nodded once more. And it was true, in a lie, I had nothing to hide.

"Where were you the night your sister went missing?" Mitch asked. Wow, eager to get started, huh?

"Home." I said, keeping my face straight and my shoulders pointed upright.

"Where's your sister, Wynter?" He asked, leaning over the table with a smirk. I looked up at Reynolds, but he had moved to the corner of the room. Probably letting the rookie get his first _real _interrogation in. I hated him for that.

"I already said that I didn't know." I signed. This was such a waste of time.

"Well we think you do."

"Am I a suspect?" I questioned with raised brows.

"No." Reynolds said.

"Should you be?" Mitch asked, the look of victory on his face. No quite, ass hole.

"No." I said simply.

Mitch's face fell but he pressed on. "Has Autumn tried to contact you at all?"

"No."

Mitch shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in the chair. I looked forward to the glass on the other side of the room. I hoped whoever was on the other side that I couldn't see was enjoying the show. I know I wasn't. "Well we're going through your phone as we speak. Don't worry, we got the search warrant."

I shrugged. "Okay, you won't find anything."

He leaned forward on the table again. "We can backtrack all your deleted messages and calls."

I leaned forward and said, "Okay, you won't find anything." And leaned back as he frowned at me.

"What happened to your hand?" He asked, eyeing my still bandaged hand from when I had a temper tantrum and smashed my mirror to pieces.

"I punched my mirror."

"Why did you do that?"

"I was mad."

"Do you usually act irrationally when you're mad?"

"Most of the time."

There was that victory smile again. "What were you mad at?"

"My mother." I sighed. I was starting to get a headache from all the bullshit.

"Why?"

"Telling you about my mommy issues won't help you find my sister any sooner." I slouched my shoulders and tilted my head back.

Mitch slammed his hands down on the table, which caused me to jump back up straight in my chair and caused Reynolds to stare at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was crazy. "Why are you digging up that gazebo in your backyard?"

"School project." If there could be any less emotion in my voice I would be scared that I was turning into a robot.

"You're in college, aren't you?" Reynolds finally spoke up from his little corner.

I nodded. "Yeah, almost done with my first semester."

"Interesting." Mitch mumbled. _Yeah, not really._ I thought with a roll of my eyes and another deep sigh.

Mitch reached under the table and pulled out a manila envelope and then took out three pictures of _Blake's Magic Shop_ and threw them on the table. "Why in the past have you gone into this store?" He asked, his eyes almost bulging out of his head. I looked, astonished that they knew I had gone there. _In the past_. I didn't see what this had anything to do with what was going on now.

I leaned forward and examined the pictures and then slumped back again, and said without choking, "I like the candles." Images of passing my sister on and seeing her death filled my mind and I almost lost my cool and let tears fall out of my eyes. _Almost._ But I wouldn't let this prick cop win. I couldn't.

"Do you think you're a witch, Wynter?" Mitch asked seriously. From the corner of the room I heard Reynolds choke and turn it into a cough. Mitch's face started to turn red. Oh yeah, his job was over.

"Are you stupid?" I asked in a bored tone.

"Excuse me!" Mitch picked up the pictures and threw them around the room and I just sat there. _Easy boy…_ I thought. His face was red and puffed out and he was clenching his fists together so tightly that I thought they were going to pop off. He looked like he wanted to punch me.

"You're excused." I said, trying to withhold the fear in my voice. I still couldn't let the bastard get what he wanted, which was for me to be scared. No. I couldn't let him have that victory.

The young cop stood up and wagged his finger in my face. "You cannot talk to me like that, young lady."

I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him. Reynolds stiffened in the corner of the room. I wasn't going to do anything. I think he knew that because he didn't step forward and intervene. "Actually, I can talk to you however I want, wanna know why?" I asked and leaned closer to him. I was so close to him that I could feel his breathing in my face. "Because I don't respect you, Officer Mitch." I said darkly. His eyes grew wide but he continued to stay in my face. "Here you are, basically telling me that you think I've done something with my sister. I fucking loved—love my sister you ass hole." I gritted my teeth and then started towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Mitch asked, huffing and puffing.

I turned to him, my hand on the door knob. "I'm not under arrest, so I'm leaving." I looked at Reynolds, whom I have a feeling didn't suspect me at all, and he nodded, giving me the "okay" to leave. "Don't talk to me again until you find my sister. Oh, and I want my phone back. You prick." I walked out of the room and slammed the door shut. I bit my tongue to keep the urge of screaming inside my body. I breathed deeply for several seconds and then composed myself. I walked to the front of the station and waited for them to hand back over my phone.

After twenty minutes of waiting Mitch showed up with my phone in tow. He gave me a death glare and I returned it. He held out my phone in his hand and I snatched it and walked out before words could be said.

Like I mentioned before, young cops who had something to prove were _fucking _morons.

**-X-**

My mother and I sat at opposite ends of the large dinner table that night. I wanted to be as far away from her as possible; basically accusing me of doing something to Autumn. Okay, she didn't really come out and say it, but I knew that she was thinking it. Letting the police interrogate me without her being there. I'm a _minor_; she was supposed to be there. But she wasn't. Why was I so surprised by that? Maybe I thought better of her. I don't understand why.

I twisted and untwisted the spaghetti noodles around my fork and rested my head in my hand. Moira did a really good job on dinner tonight; I just wasn't in the mood to eat. I wasn't in the mood to do anything except yell at my mom and try to amend things with Tate. Maybe cry. Yeah, I was in the mood to cry.

"So why is the gazebo all dug up?" My mother suddenly asked, breaking the silence I was enjoying a little too much.

I sat up, surprised that the gazebo was all finished. I mean, I know that I told Chad to take care of it somehow if he really wanted to get out of this house, but I didn't expect him to do it so fast. I was impressed. But I wouldn't tell him that. "It's for a school project." I mumbled, eating a small bite of food.

"That's what the police said." She said matter-of-factly.

"Well did you expect me to tell you something else?" I asked with as little interest as I could manage.

"I don't know, Wynter, maybe the truth." She signed tiredly. Like she was tired of me.

I sat up straight and dropped my fork. "It is the truth, mother."

She threw her fork down on the floor and glared at me. "Where is your sister?" She shouted.

"I don't know!" I shouted back and stood up.

"You're lying to me." She muttered and then got up and threw her cup of wine down on the floor. The glass cracked but didn't break. Rose colored wine seeped into the carpet. I tried to stay calm, tried to not raise my voice at her, tried to not give her a reason to hate me more than she already did. "Whatever," She said and then waved her hand at me and walked into the living room. I sighed and slouched back on the seat. I signed again, angrily this time, and then got up and ran to the bathroom.

A nice hot shower should calm me down and make me go to a much needed resting place in my head.

After my shower, I don't know, I lost it. Weeks after not being able to cry and holding back, I finally lost it. I lay in my bed and cried.

I cried.

I cried.

I cried.

I never knew that I had so many tears inside of me to let out. "How long are you going to cry about this?" The sudden voice caught me off guard and by the tone I wasn't exactly excited to hear it.

_The first words he says to me in two weeks and he asks me how much longer I'm going to cry._ I thought and sat up in the bed. I turned over to see Tate standing beside my piano, his hands in his pockets. I rubbed my face with my nightshirt and pushed down my hair. "I don't know…how much longer are you going to stay pissed off at me?" I tried to keep my voice from cracking but it didn't work.

He looked down and away from me and said, "I don't know."

I smirked and suppressed a bitter laugh. "You don't know a lot, do you Tate?" He didn't look up at me. I flopped back down on my mattress and buried my face in my pillow. "Maybe you should leave. I have more important things to worry about than our fight now."

"I saw the police come to the house earlier." He said suddenly.

I sat back up, wishing that I could just sleep. Crying always made me tired. "Yeah, so?"

"What did they want?" He finally looked up at me and I wished that he hadn't; he looked so sad, so withdrawn from the world. I wanted to bring him back to me, but I didn't know if I could.

I was silent for a few seconds and then said, "They think I killed my sister, Tate."

"That's fucking crazy!" He shouted, bawling his fists up.

I smirked. "Oh, so now you care!" I shouted back.

He grabbed his face and sighed. "Wynter—I never _not_ cared."

I laughed. "Well here lately you have a funny way of showing it." I leaned back against my headboard and pulled my knees to my chest. "Where have you been, anyway?"

He slouched his shoulders and looked past me, staring at my wall. I don't see what was so interesting about it; it was a dull color. "There was something that I had to do." His eyes flickered to mine and I held his gaze.

"And what would that be?" I asked softly.

"Nothing." He broke the stare and sat at the end of my bed.

"Right, of course. Nothing." I mumbled and shrugged. "It's always nothing. It'll always be nothing."

He looked up at me, hurt. "I was just…blowing off some steam until I felt in control again."

"And are you in control now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smirked. "Partially." He said with a little laugh.

I rolled my eyes slightly. "Good to know. Are you still being a judgmental ass hole?" I asked with little emotion. It almost scared me as much as it showed in his face.

He looked at me again, his eyes sad. "Wynter…" He trailed off, playing with the blanket at the end of my bed.

"Thought so." I mumbled. "You're such a hypocrite. You've killed people and you don't see me yelling at you about it. I kill one person and you act like we're over forever."

His eyes shot up at me, lingered there for a minute, and then he looked away. "I—I know. But I'm better now. I…I still love you, Wynter."

"But do you still _hate_ me?"

"I never hated you. I just have…anger problems."

"That would have been nice to know before…" I trailed off and then the question I've been waiting to get the answer for forever for popped in my head. "Tate, where's my sister?"

He was silent for a few seconds and then said, looking me in the eyes, "It's best that you don't know."

"I'm asking, so tell me." I sighed, criss-crossing my legs and putting my hands in my lap.

"And I'm telling you that you don't need to know." He said more sternly.

"How…did you move her?" I figured that I would try again. "I thought you couldn't leave the house."

"You don't need to know that, either." He sighed, shaking his head.

I laughed and laid back down in my bed, pulling the blankets up over me. "I love how you keep a million secrets from me, even when they concern me."

"Wynter—please, don't be difficult." He leaned over me and pulled the purple blanket from my face.

"Okay. See you later." I said without looking at him.

"Are you pissed off at me?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Totally not." I mumbled and closed my eyes. Maybe he would get the picture and leave. A few seconds later I felt his arms around me under the covers. _Or maybe not… _I thought and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, which made him tighten it. "Get off of me." I hissed.

"No." He said simply and continued to hold me. Finally, I just gave up. I sighed and turned to face him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face in his chest. He smelled like mint and grass. It was such a calming and reassuring smell. It made me feel safe and it made me feel that everything was going to be okay.

I didn't know if we were _entirely_ okay, but this was a good start…

* * *

**A/N: Yay, Wynter and Tate are finally back together...sort of... Hahaha. **

**The idea for the police suspecting Wynter came from LanaLovesFanFiction. :) Thanks for the idea!  
**

**Only two more chapters left...the final chapters...THIS IS GETTING ME EMOTIONAL. Not really. XD But I really loved working on this story, and I love all of you guys for commenting on it and giving me the motivation. ALMOST 100 REVIEWS. YOU GUYS. I LOVE YOU GUYS. I hope to continue to get more reviews on this story, even when I'm finished with it. :)  
**

**Alright, review for the next chapter. kbai!  
**


	17. A Life for a Life

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Seventeen: A Life for a Life**_

Hayden went to Hell.

Can't say that I was surprised.

At least I wouldn't have to listen to her senseless yelling and nagging anymore. Chad went into the Light. Now _that _was a twist. I mean, he wasn't that bad of a guy, but he was annoying as hell. He didn't deserve to rot in Hell forever, but I felt bad for all the people where he was now. He was going to drive them absolutely crazy. Patrick, reluctantly, followed his ex-lover into the Light. Moira was very determined to stay in the house with me, but I couldn't wake up until she passed on. She and I had gotten close. Closer that I would have liked. After twenty minutes of arguing and her crying, she disappeared into the warm Light.

I woke up in Tate's lap with tears falling from my eyes. I wasn't crying because I was sad; I was crying because I was relieved that it was over.

The next night though, I had tears in my eyes again, only this time they were due to sadness. Tonight was the night that I was passing on Tate. Tonight was the night that Tate would be leaving me. Forever. Into the Light or the Darkness, either one, I wasn't entirely sure. I was hoping and praying that whatever God was up there, if any, that he (or she) would be merciful and guide him into the Light to be happy.

I hoped that he would be forgiven.

Forgiveness.

There seems to be a lot of that roaming around here lately.

Tate and I decided that we would perform the circle in my room tonight. It was easier that way. For whom, I didn't exactly know.

Now, I stood in front of him, his hands tightly clasping mine. The circle was ready. I was just waiting for the clock to strike twelve. The clock could take all the time it needed; I wasn't ready to let go.

"I love you." I whispered, looking into his deep, dark, sad eyes. He pulled me close to him, wrapping his arms around me into a tight hug. I could barely breathe. But I didn't mind. I felt safe and loved in his arms, and I never wanted him to let me go.

"I love you too." He mumbled into my ear. He stroked my hair gently and hugged me closer to his body, though I didn't know how much closer we could get. "And I'm sorry we fought." He pulled me away from him slightly to give me a long and soft kiss on the lips. There was greed and wanting in the kiss. Which made everything all the more harder.

I smiled against his lips and giggled. "If we didn't fight then I would think that there's something wrong with us." He wrapped me into his arms again and I whispered, "No one's perfect." I think, throughout this whole little journey, I've learned that no one is perfect. No matter how hard you try, you're just not perfect. And you can never be perfect.

We were silent for a few seconds and then he pulled me away from him again, this time his eyes looked pleading. I furrowed my eyebrows and waited for him to say whatever it was that he was going to say. After a few more seconds he sighed and hung his head low and then said, "Listen, Wynter, there's something I need to tell you."

"Well you better hurry…" I mumbled.

He unwrapped his arms from around me and then grasped my hands again. "That night when you killed Michael…when you died and came back—" His sentence was cut short by a loud bang slicing through the air. We were silent. I could hear someone panting behind me, but I didn't turn to see who it was. Tate stared at me with wide eyes and I stared back at him in confusion. It was only when a huge, painful burning sensation exploded in the left side of my chest that I knew what had happened.

I had been shot.

I fell forward with a gasp and Tate caught me before I could land face first on my floor. He set me gently on the ground, gripping my hand tightly. Water was falling on my face. It took me a few minutes to realize that he was crying. "Wynter…Wynter…" He mumbled my name over and over again as I felt the life draining out of me with great force.

I struggled to breathe. My body was going numb. I couldn't even feel Tate grasping my hand anymore. My brain started going fuzzy. I couldn't think coherently. Black seeped around my eyes and then my chest stopped moving.

Tate let out a frustrated cry. I was standing beside him, looking from my dead body on the floor to the person in the middle of the room who shot me.

Constance.

"Don't you fucking move!" My mother's voice echoed behind the deranged blonde woman, who jumped and dropped her gun. Looking past Constance I saw that my mother had a gun pointing at her back. Where the hell did my mother get a gun? "The police should be here any minute, you fucking bitch." She hissed through clenched teeth. I could tell that she was trying to hold down her temper, and I didn't know how she was doing it.

Constance was smiling.

At me.

But my mother looked past me and to Tate and my body on the floor. She couldn't see me. Good.

"Is she breathing?" My mother asked.

"No…" Tate whispered and then I saw something spark within him. He dropped my hand and then pressed both palms onto my chest and began in a rhythmic motion up and down and then blowing into my mouth. He was performing CPR on me. "I am _not_ going to let you die in this house. Again." He muttered and then blew more air into my lungs.

Constance smirked in triumph.

I was about to tell Tate to just give up, that I was gone, I was really gone this time, when I felt something pull me back towards my body. He blew into my mouth one more time and then a very forceful tug snatched me back into my body and I was gasping for air. I was in unbearable pain. The most pain I've ever been in thus far. I staggered to breathe, hoping that my heart wouldn't stop again.

Outside I heard the sirens stop in front of the house and then I heard thuds pounding up the stairs. The last thing I saw was Tate's smiling face before I blacked out. And the last thing I heard was Constance screaming in deception. My hearing was replaced with buzzing and my vision was replaced with black.

But I was still breathing.

I was standing in a meadow, much like the meadow in the back of my house. But this one was different. It was different because Arielle and Autumn were there, standing in front of me. Arielle had her hands behind her back and Autumn was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

The only logical thing that came to mind was that I was dead. So I asked, "Am I dead?"

Arielle shook her head. "No, Wynter."

I looked around some more. The sky was a clear light blue and there were white birds flying freely. The trees had ripe apples dangling from them and white rabbits jumped around everywhere. "Then what is this place?" I asked. Where ever I was, it was beautiful.

"This is you, fighting for your life." Autumn said.

My face fell and I gave her a hard look. "What does that mean?"

"It means," My sister said, putting her hands on her hips. "That right now you could go both ways. You could either live or you could die. You're in the middle. You're in limbo."

"And you have to choose." Arielle said.

I have to choose?

I have to choose whether I want to go back on earth and continue to live, or if I want to go with them and be in a peaceful place and not have to worry about anything ever again.

The answer, to me, seemed simple.

Finally I said, "I want to stay here with you."

Arielle shook her head and said, "No, Wynter, you can't."

I frowned. "Why not?"

"Because it's not your time to go."

My frowned deepened. "Then why tell me that I have a choice if I really don't?"

"Because then things would be boring." Autumn laughed.

I glared at her and said, "But I don't want to go back… I don't want to be there anymore. I want to be here with you and Autumn and Fiona." If I could cry right now, I would. But for some reason the tears wouldn't come out and I didn't feel sad. I _should_ have felt sad.

Arielle stepped towards me, a sad smile on her face. "I know, sweetie, but you can't. There's too much more that you have to do. So much more that you have to see."

I sighed and rubbed my head and wrapped my arms around my stomach. "I wish everything was so simple." It seems that I had been wishing that all along. But wishes don't come true. At least, that's something that I've learned.

"If life was simple then we wouldn't have to try." Autumn laughed.

"Wynter, Tate needs you." Arielle said.

"Yeah, you're his humanity." Autumn said.

"So you have to go back… You're going to do amazing things." Arielle touched my shoulder, which sent warmth down my spine. "And you need to be careful." She added, looking me in the eyes. She looked like she wanted to tell me something but couldn't. I would make her.

"What for?"

"I'm not supposed to say—" She looked away from me, biting her lip.

"No, you've said too much already." Autumn snapped. A light appeared behind them and then I felt a tingling sensation all over my body. My best friend and my sister began to fade away and I tried to wrap my arms around Arielle's body to keep her with me.

"No! Don't leave! You have to tell me. You have to give me answers!" I shouted as they completely faded away into the bright light.

"Just, be careful." I heard Arielle whisper as the light around me faded and I was in a hospital room. I was over my body, which was lying limp on the hospital surgery table. The machine beside my bed was beeping. A green straight line. I was dead.

My shirt was open and the doctors were rushing like ants building their home. One of the doctors grabbed the paddles and charged them up and pressed them down on my chest. "Clear!" She shouted. An electric shock rocked my body and a little line jumped on the breathing monitor but didn't stay for longer than a second. "Clear!" She shouted again. I turned to see my parents in the corner of the room. My father was holding my mother, her face buried in his chest. She was gripping his jacket tightly. Their bodies were shaking.

Funny that I had to die for them to love each other again.

"Clear!" Another voice shouted and then with one final jolt of the electric current through my body, I fell onto the bed and my eyes shot open. I gasped and screamed, sucking in as much air as my lungs would hold. Tears rolled out of my eyes as the doctors started to tend to my gunshot wound.

"Oh my god."

"It's a miracle."

"How is this even possible?"

Gasps and shouts of excitement filled the room but all I could think was how much I hated it when people kept secrets from me.

**-X-**

Three days after my death and revival (that's what the doctors around here were calling it), the police (would you guess it was Reynolds and Mitch? Well you'd be right) came to question me about what had happened the night Constance shot me.

"What led to Ms. Langdon shooting you, Miss Summers?" Reynolds asked, his notepad and pen in hand. Mitch stayed in the back of the room, not saying anything. He probably got chewed out after the day he interrogated me about my sister's disappearance. I wished that he had gotten fired instead.

I tried to shrug. "I have no idea. I was in my room with my boyfriend. We were standing, talking, and then I heard something go off and I felt a burning in my chest. I don't know why she shot me… I don't know why." I said. But I knew why she shot me. She was pissed off that I killed her son. She knew. _She knew_ that I killed him. It was obvious to her. That woman was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

A life for a life, right?

That's how I saw it, and that's how she saw it, too.

I couldn't blame her, in fact, I was right there with her.

Reynolds and Mitch left after they got their report and said that I wouldn't have to stand trial. They said that they had enough evidence, with my mother being a witness and all, that they wouldn't need me to testify. Apparently Constance would be away for a really long time. Maybe until she died, seeing as she was so fucking old.

I hated that woman, but I didn't blame her.

My mother stayed with me in the hospital, and surprisingly, she didn't yell at me. She got me everything I needed and didn't fight when my father came into the room. I knew it was all an act though; she would be back to her usual self once I was out of this place. And they were still separated and the chances of me seeing them together ever again were slim to none. That is, of course, if I _died_ again.

I was enjoying it, but I wanted to go home. I wanted to see Tate. I was feeling utterly sick.

The doctors said that they didn't know how long they were going to keep me here. They said that the bullet pierced my heart, and that I should be dead. But yet here I am. Breathing. Alive.

How many times have I died now? Three I think. Was that a new record? Maybe I could write a book about it. _Returned from the Grave, Times Three_, that sounded like the logical title for the book.

But then again, things in my life are far from logical. And I expected that they would stay that way for a really long time. At least until I _really_ died.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is short! The last one will be longer, I promise. A lot of secrets revealed in the last chapter...a lot of questions answered. Oh boy. I can't believe it's almost over. And to think, the idea for this story came to me at random. I never thought that I would finish it. Hahaha. I never thought that people would like it this much. THANK YOU GUYS. Hang in there, last chapter will be up tomorrow. Ugh. Don't cry.**

**Please review for the final chapter. :)  
**


	18. It All Ends Here

**Locked With the Damned**

_**Chapter Eighteen: It All Ends Here**_

My mother drove us home from the hospital in silence. There was nothing to talk about. Now that we had left the hospital and weren't in my father's sight, she had gone back to the heartless woman she was before. Can't say that I didn't expect that though.

I looked out the passenger window with anticipation as we reached the house and turned into the driveway. I looked up to my bedroom window and saw my purple shades hanging in front of it. And no Tate. As I walked up the front porch stairs I wondered what he did the two weeks that I was in the hospital. Probably worrying himself to death. Haha. Death. Death was a very fickle person. I think He/She liked me though, since they've been cutting me so much slack here lately.

My mother unlocked the front door in silence and waited for me to talk in first. I did, gladly, and started up the staircase to my bedroom. I passed my sister's door and froze. All the memories of her as a kid, in school, innocent, and then in her final days when we were here. So many bad memories mixed with the good and I felt myself starting to cry. I knew that I would never see her again, at least, for a very long time.

With a shudder and a sudden burst of cold air ruffling my hair, I turned and slowly opened my bedroom door. I was expecting to see Tate somewhere in the room, but he wasn't. I walked in, shutting the door back behind me, and stood in the center of my sanctuary that I missed so much.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked around. Something was off. I looked everywhere and finally spotted it; there was something painted on a canvas on my easel in the back corner of the room. I walked to see what it was and when I saw the picture, I covered my mouth with my good hand and gasped.

On the canvas was my face, purple and silver roses flowing everywhere. I smiled, the threat of tears stinging my eyes again. I let them fall this time. I stroked the painting. It was absolutely flawless.

"You like it?" A male voice sounded behind me. I turned to see Tate standing in the middle of my room. He looked exhausted and worn. I walked up to him and wrapped my good arm around him. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up off the floor, swinging me around before setting me down lightly.

"I love it." I smiled up at him. He stared down at me, his eyes showing sorrow. "What's wrong?" I asked with a frown.

He shook his head. "Nothing," He bent down and kissed me. "I'm just…so happy that you're okay." He mumbled against my lips and then buried his face in my neck. I sighed and kept my arm around him. His hand moved to my left shoulder, the one that got shot. He lightly traced his fingers over the patched up hole in my chest, directly in the middle of my heart. I gasped. His touch didn't hurt; it just threw me off guard.

And then I remembered that I should be dead. And I thanked whoever was up there watching over me that I wasn't. I was thinking irrationally when I told Arielle that I wanted to go back with her and my sister. After thinking about it, I knew I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave this world. I couldn't leave Tate.

"Thank you, for saving me." I whispered. He looked up at me, about to say something, but my mother called for me. Tate let me go and motioned to the door with a sigh for me to go see what she wanted. I smiled sheepishly at him and nodded. I ran down the stairs, hoping that whatever it was that she wanted she would make it quick. "Yes?" I asked, staying halfway up and halfway down the stairs. She had two suitcases packed and waiting beside her as she stood by the door. I huffed out some frustrated air. I should have known that she wouldn't stay long.

"I've got to go on a business trip. I won't be home for Christmas, but your presents are under the tree." She said, moving some dark hair out of her face. She looked exhausted, too.

My eyes perked up when she said the word presents. I didn't know she got me anything. I didn't even know we had a Christmas tree. She probably got it when I was in the hospital. "Okay…" I said.

"Also…" She trailed off and grabbed her bags, moving closer to the door. "The police…while you were in the hospital… They found Autumn's body." The words echoed around me, sticking to my body, slithering around me like a snake. I wanted to cry, to scream, to throw a fit. If they found her body, then she really was gone. I mean, I knew that I saw her pass on, but now she _really was gone_.

"What—" I cleared my throat from the sudden huge lump that had formed there. "What happened to her?" I asked, pushing the heel of my hand into my eyes to keep them dry.

"Michael killed her, Wynter." The woman turned her head away from me.

"What?" My eyes grew wide like I didn't know.

She nodded. "They found his hair on her body…it was in the park…they said they had enough evidence to know that it was him who did it. I didn't ask many questions… Constance… Wynter, Constance is going to be gone for a really long time. Otherwise I wouldn't leave you here alone." Maybe she meant that, but I didn't believe it. I couldn't. My mother didn't think of anyone except herself. And I would never believe that she was a selfless person even for a second.

I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there. After a while my mother opened the front door and walked out, shutting it softly behind her. I lingered on the stairs for a few more minutes and then turned and slowly treaded back to my room. Tate was sitting on my bed this time. He got up and walked over to me when I entered and held me again.

"Tate, how did my sister's body get all the way to the park?" I asked in a whisper. I thought that if I spoke louder that I would lose my composure and start bawling my eyes out. And I didn't want to do that.

His chest heaved in a sigh against me and then he said, "Blake…" I jolted my head up and stared at him with wide eyes. He stared back down at me, serious. My mouth grew dry. I felt like I was going to puke.

Only one question popped in my mind. "How?" I asked dryly.

He sighed again and sat on the end of my bed. "He and I…we're friends…I guess that's the word. I called him after…it happened…and he took care of it." He mumbled, running his hands through his hair. He looked up at me and shot me an apologetic look. I looked away, biting my lip. I didn't feel like yelling at him. I didn't feel like knowing exactly how far their relationship went.

I was just grateful.

I slumped my shoulders and sat on my piano bench. "Thank you…" My words caught him off guard. His eyes grew wide and he looked at me in amazement. I was too tired to get mad. I was too tired for any other reaction. In the past month I've learned the truth about so many secrets, I just wasn't surprised anymore. But there was something else I needed to know. "Tate, when I was about to pass you on…before your mother shot me, you were going to tell me something."

"Oh," He looked away from me again, fiddling with his fingers in his lap. This couldn't be good. "I know that you died when you killed Michael—"

"But it was only for a few minutes."

"And then you died when my mo—Constance shot you—"

"But you brought me back to life."

He furrowed his eyebrows at me and rubbed his temple in agitation. I clamped my lips tight to not interrupt him again. "Are you done?" He asked with a faint smile. I glared and nodded. "Okay, now, I know you died. You've died twice and come back to life." I didn't bother to tell him that I was between life and death in the hospital. That would just freak him out even more. "Your spirit, Wynter, your soul, is bound to the house. _This_ house."

I crinkled my forehead. "What are you talking about? I can leave… That doesn't make any sense."

He shook his head. "You can leave, but only for a few hours before you start to feel sick. Didn't you feel sick in the hospital?" I nodded, my eyes growing wide. He nodded and then went on. "After being gone from the house for a certain amount of time you'll start to feel sick, and you'll get sicker until you return to the house."

I sat in silence for a few minutes, processing all that he was telling me. In a way, it made perfect since and in another way I had no idea what was going on. Of course there had to be a loophole somewhere. I mean, life wasn't easy. "Tate, how do you know this?"

He was silent for a few seconds and then said, "…Blake."

"Oh god…" I groaned and held my head. Suddenly the room was spinning and I thought I was going to pass out. Were they bros? Were they best friends? I mean, Blake was…okay I guess. He seemed that he had a lot of baggage, but come on. Really? This is just ridiculous. That boy was really good at hiding things. They both were, and I wondered what else they were keeping from me. I didn't have the heart or the patients to ask, though. This was too much to think about just coming home from the hospital.

"Wynter…" Tate trailed off, bending down in front of me as I continued to sit on the piano bench. He moved some hair out of my face and smiled at me. "It's okay…" He said, pulling me up and folding me into his arms.

We were quiet and the only thing that I could think to say was, "Thank you for saving me…" I whispered, staring up at the blonde boy. His dark eyes, for the first time it seemed, were glistening with happiness instead of sorrow and hate.

"You already told me that." He whispered in my ear, his hot breath trailing down my neck. A shiver went down my spine and I thought that my knees were going to give out from beneath me. But I knew it would be okay, because Tate would catch me. My breathing became short breaths as his hands trailed down to my hips and played with the belt that kept my pants up. He undid it and slipped it off, throwing it somewhere on the floor. He smiled at me and I felt my cheeks growing hot as he unbuttoned my white dress shirt (I could only wear button up shirts right now because of my arm).

"But I feel…that I should keep telling you…" I said softly . His finger tips on the soft skin of my stomach make me feel weaker and weaker. I know we've done this before, but his touch still shocked my body. He's never been this gentle, and it made me feel so weak. Once my shirt was completely unbuttoned, he slid it off my shoulder and then gently glided my cripple arm out of the other. When he saw the large bandage over my chest he suppressed a gasp. He bent his head, trailing kisses from my shoulder to my elbow.

"I love you." He said, sitting down on the end of my bed and pulling me on top of him.

**-X-**

**Autumn Summers  
1999-2012  
A daughter and a sister  
Forever loved; may you shine even in death**

I must admit, the cheesy words made me cry.

December twentieth, five days before Christmas, and my dead sister is being lowered into the ground where her body will sleep forever.

My mother wasn't here for the funeral. I think she left deliberately so that she wouldn't have to come. How could she do that? Oh yeah, because she's a heartless bitch. My father was here, though. He was crying along with me and the other people that showed up. More people were here than at Michael's funeral, and I mentally laughed in triumph at that.

My father patted me on the back and then walked away to join some distant members of the family in a conversation. I didn't know what they were talking about and I didn't care. I was going to go wait in the car when I saw a little girl in a blue dress run back into the woods. I looked over my shoulder and saw that my father was in a heated conversation which probably wouldn't be ending any time soon, so I ran down the path in the woods.

Brendon was sitting at the trunk of his tree, petting a baby rabbit, and Marylnn was rocking back and forth on a branch only three inches taller than me. "Hi!" She said bubbly. Brendon shot me a shy smile and then went back to his rabbit.

"Hey." I said, sitting down on a large rock a few feet away from the tree.

"What are you doing back here?" The little girl asked.

"Mary, that's rude to ask." Brendon spoke up, shooting his sister a small glare.

"Sorry…" She mumbled, looking away from us.

"No, it's okay." I said, trying to get her out of trouble. She stuck her tongue out at Brendon and he looked away from her. "I-um-today is my sister's funeral." I crossed my arms over my chest and looked up at the sky.

"Oh…" Mary trailed off. The next thing I knew her small arms wrapped around my shoulders. "I'm sorry." She muttered, hugging me tightly. I slowly hugged her back and buried my face in her hair. It smelled like violet and vanilla.

"It's okay… She's in a better place now." Mary pulled away from me and sat down beside her brother, joining in the petting of the small brown rabbit.

"How do you know?" She asked, looking up at me with hope. I felt a tear trickle down my face but I quickly wiped it away.

"Because I just do." I said softly. Mary wasn't paying attention to me anymore, instead she was staring behind me. When I turned around I saw Blake a few feet away from me, his hands deep in his black leather jacket pockets. I stood and wiped my eyes again, hoping that my face wasn't red from my concealed crying. "You've got a problem with crashing funerals, don't you?" I asked pointedly, crossing my arms over my chest. I heard a giggle in the wind and looked back to see that Mary and Brendon were gone. The brown rabbit looked quizzically from me to Blake and then hopped away.

"Yes, it's a bad problem, I'm afraid." He said with a floppy smile.

I skipped the sweat talking and went straight to the point. "I didn't know you and Tate were friends."

He shrugged. "You never asked.

"Thought maybe it was something you should have brought up." The wind whistled around us and dark clouds started to roll in. In the distance thunder could be heard coming closer and closer to where we were. Blake shrugged again. I dropped my arms and sighed. "You don't make this easy." He smirked at me and then I asked, "Blake, how the hell did you move my sister's body without getting spotted by someone?"

He flashed me a toothy grin and then sat on the rock I was previously sitting on. "I'm magic, remember?"

I rolled my eyes. "Haha you're so funny." I sat down on the soft grass and pulled my knees to my chest. "You knew Michael killed my sister and you still scolded me about it, why?"

He looked away, rubbing his face as if thinking of the right thing to say. After a while he said, "I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"Too late for that." I held up my left arm slightly before I had to bring it back down due to the stinging pain. He laughed nervously and turned away from me again. There was something dark and alluring about him. I knew he was keeping things from me, and if it had anything to do with me, I didn't know. I honestly didn't want to know, either. Whatever he had gotten himself in to, I was sure that he could get himself out again and keep me away from it in the process. "Something bugs me." I mumbled, criss-crossing my legs. I could feel the slight mist of rain begin to sprinkle over me but I didn't care.

"What?" He asked, looking back at me.

"Constance and Michael's auras…they were grey. Why?"

"Because they were evil people." He said flatly.

My face fell. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "Yeah, why, what else did you expect?"

I shrugged, despite the pain from my shoulder. "I don't know! Something cooler than that!" I exclaimed. Blake chuckled and then got up from the rock and tilted his head at me. "What?" I felt my cheeks grow hot. I didn't like it when people looked at me like they were trying to read what I was thinking. I held my head down and hoped that he would stop.

"…Nothing. I have to go now. Just, watch over yourself, Wynter. You have no idea the dangers of this world." When I looked back up he was gone. Just like that, like he wasn't even here to being with. The wind started to pick up and suddenly the rain started to pour over me. And I just sat there, wondering. Thinking about everything that's happened since Arielle's death, since we've moved here, since my parents split, since my sister died. Everything seemed like it belonged in some type of horror movie. It just didn't seem real.

I sat in the rain and looked up at the dark sky. I was sure that my father would be looking for me right now, but I wanted to stay here for a little bit longer. It was nice here, peaceful. And I dreaded that when I got back up and left that I would be thrown into a world where I never knew what was going to happen next. Where anything could happen. Where there were rarely any happy endings to look forward to.

There were some things in this world that I would never understand, but I came to realize that I was okay with that. I guess that's the thrill of life. We have to make our own happy endings and we have to learn until we get it right. No matter how many obstacles stand in our way to prevent what we really want. You have to work through it. There will always be happiness. You just have to look hard enough.

* * *

**A/N: I kinda didn't want to post this chapter because I didn't want it to end…**

**I never anticipated that I would finish this story. But I'm glad I had to motivation for it. :) Also…you probably still have some questions about Blake and how he knows what he knows and the mystery that surrounds him, and ultimately, the story. **

**So guess what?**

**I'm not gonna leave you hanging.**

**You know what that means?**

**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL. **

**Yep. A sequel to this story. Originally, Wynter was going to die and be trapped in the house with Tate, and they were going to be the only ones left. Then I started thinking…and I came up with some ideas and BAM I thought of a sequel that will surely keep all you interested and on your toes.**

**I don't know how soon I'm going to be starting the sequel; I want to update my Walking Dead fanfic and start on a Degrassi one (I just have to choose which one I want to start…). But have no fear, the sequel will be posted within the month of December, probably towards the beginning. **

**Also, I'm going to be working on another American Horror Story fanfic, different from this one. This one won't be a Tate X OC fanfic, instead it'll be a Michael X OC fanfic. Haha. Trust me, I won't depict Michael as the creeper (maybe only slightly) that he was in this one. That one should be posted in the month of December as well with the sequel to **_**Locked With the Damned**_**, so if you feel like sticking around, please do!**

**Some of my Degrassi fanfics will be crossovers with Silent Hill and other horror movies, and there will be some stand alone Silent Hill fanfics and stand alone Degrassi fanfics. If you want to know more about them than just look at my profile. :) **

**I'll go ahead and give you the rundown of the sequel to this story:**

**Reapers of Hell  
****Summary:**_**  
Wynter and Tate thought that their hardships were over. Everything seemed to be working out fine, but of course that's when life decides to mess with you. Wynter and Tate's world is turned upside down with an unexpected guest shows up at the Murder House one day, bloody and barring a secret that involves all of them. Will Wynter be able to handle being thrown in crazy town again? Or will it be too much this time?**_

**And there you have it. Just a little more, Blake will be in this one. A lot. All secrets will be revealed and Wynter loses her cool more than once. XD Alright, stick around for the sequel and the other stories that I'll be posting and updating. Thank you guys so much for sticking through this story with me. :) You're all amazing!**

**~Eriza Atlantis **


End file.
